Mass Effect: Dimension
by looks at name tag
Summary: A twenty year old is sucked into the video game he is playing and must use his knowledge of the upcoming events to beat the game. Rated T for mild swearing. Summary sucks, but check it out please.
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect:

Dimension

**Summary: **A twenty year old is sucked into the video game he is playing and must use his knowledge of the upcoming events to beat the game. Despite his longing to return to his own world, he finds friendship, love, and a courage he never knew he had through the people he meets in the game and begins to care for them all equally.

(Crappy summary I know. I hope the story is better.)

**Pairings: **Tail and OC, Male Shepard and Ashley.

**Rating: **T (mild swearing)

**Dedication: **For my uncle, Ryan, who inspired the character of Patrick and helped me work on the plot for this story.

* * *

Chapter 1:

The Real World

**Author's Note: **Please read and review.

"Come on get behind the crate, you idiot!" Patrick Hamilton shouted at his television, slamming his fingers onto his controller in an attempt to make his video game character, Commander Shepard, listen to him. It failed though and he watched the screen go red, signaling that his character had died. Patrick sighed, turning away from the television, blinking his eyes rapidly. It appeared that he had forgotten to blink while playing again and he felt his left contact get dislodged from his eye.

Ever since the release of a new video game, _Mass Effect, _Patrick had been spending every night and day, cooped up in his small bedroom, only leaving for showers and to eat before returning to his reclusive life style. The game had been released six months ago and Patrick was about to find out that he was getting on the nerves of his family members.

"Knock, knock," Patrick glanced towards his door as his father, William, walked in, allowing light from the hallway to flood into his son's bedroom. William Hamilton was tall- six foot eleven- and was underweight for his size even though he had noticeable muscles carved into his arms and legs. They weren't even the muscles that came from lifting weights or steroids. They came from twelve years in the army, living in hells that others could only imagine.

William's hair used to be a sleek black, but now it was graying with the stress that came with being a single parent raising four children. His three sons- Patrick, Joseph, and Holden- were all high school graduates while his daughter, Lily, was in her senior year of school. Joseph was by far William's favorite son since he was a lieutenant in the navy just like his father had been. Joseph was the only Hamilton boy who showed any interest in joining the army unless you counted Patrick's interest in the Alliance, the human army in _Mass Effect _that Patrick's character was a member of.

Holden was training to become a doctor and while most parents would be proud of their son's goals, William believed that the only lifestyle worth living was in the army. It was either follow Uncle Sam or become a traitor to your country. William and Holden didn't speak much although Patrick often received letters from his estranged brother.

Lily was the perfect child. She was head of student council, homecoming queen, editor of the yearbook, president of the Key Club and French Club, captain of the soccer, basketball, and track teams, _and _maintained an A average. She was going to college to become a teacher and while it had nothing to do with the army, William still loved her. To him, a Hamilton girl had the option of drafting into the army. Hamilton boys had not choice.

That left Patrick. He was a Harvard dropout and the only reason he was allowed back into the Hamilton household was because William thought that sooner or later, he would enlist in the army since he had nothing better to do. Fighting for his country was the last thing on Patrick's mind although he would never admit that to his father.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, son?" William asked, shutting Patrick's door before crossing the room to sit on his son's bed. Patrick nodded, knowing that even if he said no, his father would go on talking. "Well, you've been out of school for six months now and I thought that you were going to… well at least do _something._"

Patrick didn't need to read minds to know that William had been about to say "enlist in the army."

"But no, all you seem to want to do is play your video games," William pointed a finger to the television, "That's not the real world, you know? You need to get a job or at least take a shower more than once a week."

"I'm looking for a job," Patrick lied. In fact, he hadn't looked for a job since his second week at home.

"No, you're not and you know it," William sighed, "You're twenty years old, Patrick, and you are unemployed, living with your dad, and all you seem to do is want to play video games. Sometimes I wish you would have just stayed at Harvard and became a lawyer."

Patrick's ice blue eyes widened. He knew William must be pissed if he would rather his son become a lawyer then do nothing with his life. Patrick sighed and murmured, "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Sorry doesn't cut it anymore," William's voice was quiet, "Get a job by Monday or I'm throwing you out."

"Throwing me out?" Patrick exclaimed angrily, "I'm your son! You can't just kick me out!"

"You aren't my son until you get a job and get your head out of the virtual world," William whispered and Patrick would rather have his father yelling. Anger was much easier to deal with than disappointment.

William stood up and walked out of the room, murmuring as he left, "Shut your windows. It's raining."

Patrick stood up and slammed his windows shut, anger trickling through his veins like the water on the glass. He wasn't angry at William. Just at himself. He knew that since his mother died a year ago, William was going through all the hardships of being a parent alone. Patrick should be making things easier and instead he was just a burden on his father.

Patrick sat down in his chair, facing the television. He stared at it for a couple moments before whispering, "I wish I could live in your world, Shepard. Everyone would be happier. I won't be a burden on my family and Dad would get his wish to see me in the army. Everyone wins."

Patrick sighed, shaking his head to clear it before stretching a hand to grasp his white X-Box controller.

At that moment, lightning struck the house and the lights flickered off.

Patrick felt a thousand bolts of electricity surge up his hand and the next thing he noticed was the feeling of being shoved in a tube.

When the lights turned back on, Patrick's room was empty. All except for a smoking controller.

**Author's Note: A little short, but hopefully quality is what matters and not quantity. So please just drop me a little review, giving your opinions. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Eden Prime

**Author's Note: **Please read and review.

"Get up!"

Patrick stirred as someone nudged him, a loud annoying alarm sounding around them. If Patrick hadn't known better he would have said that the noise was gunshots.

_Probably Lily, _he thought to himself. After all no other girl would be attempting to wake him up.

"Get up!" The voice repeated.

"Five more minutes," Patrick mumbled, trying to hide from a brilliant light that seemed to come out of no where. Another thought entered his mind. When had he gone to sleep? The last thing he remembered was fighting with William.

"You don't have five more minutes," The voice shouted over the roar of the sound, echoing around them. "It's either get up now or never get up again!" This time when the voice shoved him, they did it with more force, making Patrick's ice blue eyes flutter open

"What the hell is your problem…" Patrick's voice trailed off as his newly opened eyes adjusted to his scenery. He was outside on some beaten path, the scent of smoke overpowering everything. Patrick glanced around him, realizing that he could _see _the smoke, floating in between the trees. That sent another thought in Patrick's mind. _Trees! _Where the hell was he?

He glanced towards the figure that had wakened him up, but she wasn't paying attention to him. She had a pistol in her hand and was firing at some unknown enemy, her pink-and-white armor glowing from the dark red sky. The girl glanced at him and then shouted; firing off more shots, "Don't just sit there! Get down behind a crate!"

Patrick obeyed, crawling behind a metal crate as the girl kept shooting. He heard someone running from behind him and turned to see a man running towards the enemies that Patrick had yet to see, firing rapidly. Patrick stared at him, his heart practically bursting out of his chest when the man was gunned down, falling to the ground.

_Shit! _His scream was silent as the man had a fit on the ground before he became still, dark blue eyes staring sightlessly ahead.

"Shit!" Patrick turned to girl who was under heavy fire. Not knowing what else to do, Patrick crawled towards the dead man, took his pistol and stood up, ready to fire at whoever was attacking them. He was not prepared for the sight he saw.

The girl was firing at three tall, machine things that were holding rifles and showing that they knew how to use them. Patrick stared at them and they seemed to notice another person had entered the fight for they turned their large, flashlight heads towards him, raising their rifles. Fortunately that one distraction was all the girl needed for she killed all three of them with just two well aimed shots. They fell to the ground and the girl jogged over to Patrick.

"Thanks kid," She muttered, reloading her pistol. "You distracted them long enough for me to take them down."

Patrick stared at her before stuttering, "Anytime."

The girl nodded, still staring at him. "Who are you? Are you reinforcements? Did the Alliance send you?"

Her words were completely lost on Patrick. _Alliance? Reinforcements?_ "No. Why? Do I look like a soldier?"

Patrick gestured to the black t-shirt and plaid sweats he wore around his house. _His house. _Once more the same thoughts echoed in his head. How the hell did he even get here?

The girl shook her head, "I guess not. I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. I guess you're a farmer?"

Patrick stared at her, her words still not making sense to his ears. _Ashley Williams? _From _Mass Effect?_ Was the girl giving him a false name? Patrick stared around him, recognizing the pink-and-white armor the girl was wearing from Ashley William's armor from the game. What the hell was going on?

"Your name's Ashley Williams?" Patrick asked his voice rough.

Ashley nodded, "You probably heard of my grandfather, General Williams."

Patrick nodded his head spinning. He had no doubt that the girl in front of him was Ashley Williams, but he didn't know why he was even crouched in front of her. Were they in the _game? _Patrick's head spun more just thinking about it.

Suddenly it dawned on Patrick, "Oh I get it. I'm dreaming."

"What?" Ashley asked, "Does this look like a dream?"

"I don't have to listen to you," Patrick laughed, glad that his brief panic attack was over, "You're just a figment of my imagination."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ashley asked again in a way that Patrick's subconscious could never pull off.

"Wait a minute," Patrick whispered, "I'm _not _dreaming."

Ashley shook her head, "You okay? You didn't hit your head or anything?"

"But I don't understand," Patrick whispered, "Where are Shepard and the others?"

"Shepard?" Ashley asked, sounding just as confused as Patrick felt, "There is no Shepard stationed on Eden Prime."

"Eden Prime?" Patrick whispered. This was before Ashley met up with Shepard and Kaidan or the rest of the Normandy. Patrick froze. Were they even in existence? Had he interfered with something big?

"Yes Eden Prime," Ashley said, standing up, "Those synthetics must have come for the beacon."

_Beacon? _The _Prothean _Beacon? "Do you have any idea what we're fighting?"

"I think they're geth," Ashley answered, "Now come on. We have to make sure the beacon is still secure."

"Right," Patrick breathed, still not understanding what the hell was going, but decided that it would be better to stick with an armed soldier than wander around on his own.

"One moment," Ashley stopped him, placing a hand on his chest, "What's your name kid?"

"Patrick Hamilton," He answered, wondering if he should have lied. After all, would Ashley know if there was a Hamilton on Eden Prime? She had known that there was no Shepard.

But Ashley just nodded and began to lead the way, "Follow me. Maybe on the way there we can find you some armor."

Without another word, Ashley began sprinting away, leaving Patrick to run after her, wheezing.

_Shit, I'm out of shape, _He thought to himself, clutching his side as he ran. As a Hamilton living under William's roof, Patrick had been subjected to many army training courses throughout the years. When he was younger, he wasn't as strong as Holden or as comfortable around guns as Joseph, but he was fast. He was a star on the track team, breaking two school records for the 400 and 800, but that had been a little less than two years ago.

The last time Patrick had probably run had been during his first semester at Harvard before dropping out. That had been seven months ago and Patrick was feeling his lack of exercise in his burning thighs. Although… it wasn't as bad as it should have been. Some part of Patrick's legs remembered racing on the track and they soon adjusted to his fast pace. They weren't completely ready for the run, but at least he was able to keep Ashley in sight.

Ashley stopped behind a crate and Patrick crouched beside her, placing the dead man's gun against his thigh. With all the training he went through as a kid, he knew how to use a gun, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to kill anything. Synthetic or not.

Ashley glanced at him and nodded, "You're fast for a farmer. Most can't even run a quarter mile without passing out."

"Thanks," Patrick mumbled quietly, still trying to catch his breath and Ashley continued,

"You should enlist with the Alliance or something when we get out of here." Ashley paused. "If we get out of here."

"We _will _get out of here," Patrick promised. After all that's what happened in the game. Ashley shrugged and Patrick added, "Don't be such a pessimist."

Ashley glanced at him and he knew exactly what she would say, "A pessimist is when an optimist calls a realist." (A/N. I had to put that line in here. It was my favorite throughout the game.)

Patrick was about to add something else, but Ashley held up her hand, "Quiet. I think I hear something."

The two of them peered over the edge of the crate, their guns poised to shoot. Two assault drones appeared, two geth dragging a prisoner to a purple object.

"Dragon's teeth," Patrick whispered, remembering the geth technology that turned humans into mindless husks.

"What was that?" Ashley inquired, but her comment made the two geth glance at them. The lead one in purple armor raised his hands and the two assault drones headed towards them. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Ashley whipped out her pistol before Patrick could even move a finger and shot the two drones down before sheathing her pistol, taking out her assault rifle. The two of them- a soldier and a teen from another world- crept towards them and Patrick knew what was going to happen before it did.

The lead geth waved a hand over the human who had been thrown a top one of the purple objects and Patrick's legs tensed to run just as a large spike impaled itself through the human, blood falling down like scarlet raindrops.

Patrick couldn't help himself. He bent over and got sick.

Seeing an ally die in a game was one thing. Seeing it in real life was quite another. Patrick had not been expecting the blood that dripped down the spike or the crunching sound of bones being broken.

"Shit, kid," Ashley snapped although her voice was gentle. Patrick was a little surprised. He always imagined Ashley Williams as a headstrong member of the crew. Then again he had always been playing Shepard when they communicated before. Ashley dragged him behind a rock wall before leaning over a firing a couple shots.

But her gun was not the only one being fired.

Patrick wiped his mouth as two Alliance soldiers raced towards them, assisting Ashley in taking out the geth.

"_Shepard_," Patrick breathed.

Ashley turned around and even through her helmet; Patrick could see the gratitude in her amber eyes. She walked towards Shepard and Kaidan and Patrick followed, hearing his ally say, "Thank God, you showed up when you did sir. I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212 and this is Patrick Hamilton, a farmer for Eden Prime. Are you the reinforcements the Alliance sent?"

Shepard nodded, "Commander John Shepard of the Normandy. This is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko Are you two okay?"

Patrick blinked in surprise at Shepard's voice. It sounded just like it did in the game. Patrick had been expecting it to sound different, but no. It held the same calmness as usual.

"Minor scrapes and burns," Ashley answered with a shrug, "Nothing serious."

Shepard turned to Patrick and the younger man whispered, "I'm fine."

Shepard nodded, "Any idea what we're up against, Chief?"

Ashley shared a glance with Patrick, "We think they're geth."

"Geth?" Patrick jumped at Kaidan's voice. He had forgotten Kaidan was there. "Why would they be here now? They haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 300 years."

"I think it has to do with the beacon," Ashley explained.

"It's the only explanation," Patrick added, "The geth didn't come until we found it."

Shepard nodded, "Where is it now?"

"At the dig site," Ashley answered, "Not far at all."

Shepard nodded again, "Okay. I think you should join us, Chief. You too, Hamilton. It's always useful to have a couple more hands."

Kaidan lifted his hand to speak, "First I think we need to find Hamilton some armor. He'll be no use to us if he doesn't have shields."

"There might be some in those crates over there," Ashley explained, tilting her nod to a pile of broken crates by the impaled human, "That's where most marines kept their belongings."

Kaidan nodded, "Come with me, Hamilton."

Patrick obeyed and followed Kaidan who pulled the top off one of the crates. The lieutenant peered in and grabbed a set of armor.

"Scorpion," He explained, "Light armor. Should work well for you."

Kaidan threw the armor to Patrick who stumbled backwards slightly, "Are you mad, Lieutenant? This armor is heavy as hell."

"It's lighter than mine," Kaidan said, leaving Patrick no choice, but to slip into the armor. Kaidan touched the younger man's shoulder and added, "You're a farmer, not a soldier. Fight only when you have to. We don't want anyone else dying."

Patrick nodded and the two of them followed Shepard and Ashley who were already heading towards the dig site. After walking for a couple seconds, Ashley raised her hand and whispered, "Geth."

The four of them took out their weapons and slowly moved forward. Sure enough five geth emerged from behind a wall and began to open fire on the small squad of humans.

Patrick fired off a couple shots, missing nearly all of his targets, but was a perfect distraction for the others who took down the geth.

"Damn I suck," Patrick murmured to himself, reloading his weapon. Why was shooting in a game so much easier than actually hitting something in real life?

"Stick with us and you'll get the hang of it," Kaidan laughed, "Enemies always follow the Commander, right sir?"

Shepard looked back and smirked, "Right."

_You don't know the half of it yet, _Patrick thought to himself, knowing that Shepard's problems had just begun.

The four humans continued towards the dig site and they stopped at the spot where the beacon should have been.

Ashley shook her head, "The beacon was right there. It must have been moved."

"By our side or the geth?" Kaidan asked.

"Hard to tell," Ashley signed and Patrick bent down to touch the metal ground, memories coming back.

_Two doctors telling Shepard that the beacon had been moved to the spaceport._

"It's at the spaceport," Patrick said, remembering the people Shepard had met up at camp during the game.

"How do you know?" Ashley asked.

"I remember now," Patrick lied, his mind practically just filling his mouth with toxic lies, "Right before I passed out, right before you found me Chief, I had been helping the excavation team move the beacon to the spaceport. I had then gone back to see if any of the marines needed help."

Shepard nodded, "To the spaceport then?"

"I'll lead us," Ashley offered and the four humans began moving once more.

The four of them approached the camp and Ashley sighed, "Looks like they hit the camp pretty hard."

"Good place for an ambush," Kaidan added, "Keep your eyes open."

Kaidan suddenly stopped, nodding up ahead, "Look. It's more of those spike things."

Patrick's eyes widened as he recalled what happened next in the game.

"Husks," He whispered, "Everyone take cover!"

"What the hell are you-" Ashley began just as the spikes began to move.

"Oh my god, they're still alive," Kaidan exclaimed as one of husks began twitching as it was brought down.

"What did the geth do to them?" Ashley whispered loudly and everyone took out their guns, firing at the approaching husks.

The husks roared, but were easily brought down by the three humans. Patrick had yet to bring anything down.

"What were those things?" Ashley asked, walking over to one of the dead husks.

"Husks," Patrick explained, "The Reap- the geth use the dragon's teeth to turn humans into mindless zombies."

Patrick bit his lip as he almost mentioned the Reapers. While telling Shepard would give humanity a slight advantage in the war yet to come, he knew it was too soon. Shepard hadn't even received the Prothean vision yet.

"How do you know these things, farmer?" Ashley asked.

"I studied the Protheans a little before I came here," Patrick lied again. "To study alien backgrounds and all."

Ashley nodded as though she didn't full believe him.

Shepard, who had remained silent, spoke, "We better start heading towards the spaceport. Chief, lead the way."

The four of them continued along the unmarked path just as a gunshot rang out. Patrick froze: _Nihlus. _

Everyone moved forward faster now, but a sight in the sky made everyone look up. A ship was gliding across the horizon. It wasn't an Alliance ship nor was it a geth ship. It was Sovereign, a Reaper ship.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ashley shouted.

"It's a ship, just look at the size of it!" Kaidan added and Patrick bit his tongue not to explain what he knew.

_All in good time, _he promised himself.

"Look more husks and geth," Ashley suddenly shouted and Patrick watched as three husks and two geth slowly began moving towards them.

"Why is nothing ever easy?" Kaidan sighed, arming himself.

All four of them separated: Patrick sticking with Kaidan while Shepard headed in the opposite direction with Ashley. Gunshots were fired everywhere and Patrick fired at a geth shock trooper, watching with glee as it went down.

"I got one," Patrick exclaimed excitedly to Kaidan who was aiming at an approaching husk.

"Great job. Now don't get cocky, kid," Kaidan praised, taking down the husk.

With the combined efforts of the Alliance soldiers and the newly confident Patrick, the enemy forces went down in no time.

Kaidan glanced at Patrick and praised again, "Well done. I told you that you would get used to it. We'll make an Alliance soldier out of you yet, Hamilton."

Patrick grinned. Kaidan's words meant more than the lieutenant knew. If Patrick was really stuck in this Mass Effect universe, he could think of no way better then spending it under the command of John Shepard.

Shepard and Ashley jogged towards them, the Chief grinning at Patrick, her assault rifle back on her back, "I saw you take down a shock trooper, Hamilton. Not bad for a farmer."

"Thanks," Patrick grinned.

Kaidan glanced towards the spaceport, "That where the beacon is?"

Patrick shrugged, lying once more, "That's where it should be."

But Patrick knew it wouldn't be there. It would be farther away and they would have to fight a lot more geth before they would be safe on the Normandy. If Patrick even made it that far.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Four Minutes

Patrick walked beside Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan, all four of them aiming their weapons in every shadow, tensing around every turn. The three soldiers had moved their helmets, sweat trickling down their faces, and Patrick had been surprised how much they looked like their digital copies he knew from his television screen.

Shepard's hair was a dark brown, styled like a typical soldier. His eyes, a pale blue, were filled with courage which comforted his allies. Whenever he was aiming down an enemy, Patrick noticed that Shepard's eyes crinkled around the edges with concentration. Shepard was also very tall. Patrick only reached the commander's shoulder.

Kaidan was more or less what Patrick had always imagined him looking like in real life. His dark hair was short although not as short as Shepard's and it sort of spiked along the front. The lieutenant's brown eyes also appeared more tired and Patrick remembered that Kaidan was thirty-two. In the game, he had appeared much younger, always ready for action. No one could tell that he was a tired man who had spent his whole life with the Alliance.

Ashley's appearance in real life was far different from the game. Her hair was pulled into a loose bun, strands of brown hair falling in front of a damp face. Her brown eyes were soft yet when she talked to either Shepard or Kaidan, they would harden up and it didn't take long for Patrick to figure out why.

"_A Williams must be better than the rest,_" Patrick remembered Ashley's character saying once during the game.

Kaidan led the way as they walked up the stairs, but he stopped suddenly. Patrick knew why. "Commander, its Nihlus."

Shepard walked over to the dead turian, Patrick and Kaidan behind him while Ashley brought up the rear.

"A turian?" Ashley asked while Patrick stared down at the dead Spectre, "You know him?"

"He was with us on the Normandy," Kaidan whispered, bending down.

Patrick bent down beside Kaidan, staring at the unmoving body. It wasn't even the dead turian that rendered Patrick speechless, but the fact that he was actually _staring _at a turian. His red skin reminded Patrick of a lizard's and he touched it, rough underneath his soft hands. The head was larger than a human's, but it looked smaller, lying there unmoving. Patrick closed his eyes and shook his head, guilt choking him.

He had _known _this was going to happen. If he had told Shepard that they had to move faster than Nihlus might still be alive. Saren wouldn't have-

"Movement behind the crates!" Everyone, but Patrick took out their weapon. He knew it was only going to be Powell, the smuggler.

"Wait! Stop! I'm human like you!" Powell pleaded, walking towards them with his hands up.

"Hiding behind those crates nearly got you killed," Shepard said coolly, walking towards Powell.

"Yeah I know," Powell said, "Listen I'm Powell. What's going on here?"

"You tell us," Shepard said, "You live here. I don't."

"I don't know anything, honest," Powell said, his hands still up, "I just saw a turian kill your friend here."

"What are you talking about?" Shepard asked.

"The other turian got here first," Powell explained, stroking his beard, "Your friend called him Saren. Anyway your friend relaxed and then Saren… he shot him right in the back."

"Where did Saren go after he killed Nihlus?" Kaidan asked.

"Hopped on the cargo train to follow the beacon," Powell shrugged, "That's all I know I swear."

Shepard paused before asking, "Any idea what the geth are after?"

"Geth, but I thought- never mind," Powell shook his head, "I think it has to do with the beacon. Everything's gone to hell since we found it. First that damn mother ship shows up and then the attacks."

"If you saw everyone getting killed, how come the geth didn't find you?" Shepard asked.

"I was… hiding behind the crates," Powell whispered.

"Why didn't anyone else think about hiding behind the crates?" Shepard asked, firing question after question.

"I was already hiding behind the crates before the attack started," Powell added in a low whisper.

Patrick shared a glance with Ashley before muttering sarcastically, "Yeah, that doesn't sound suspicious at all."

"It's not like that," Powell sighed, "I usually have to catch a couple winks to get through my shift. I snuck over here by the crates so my supervisors couldn't find me."

"You survived because you're lazy?" Ashley snapped.

Shepard raised a hand to calm her, "Had you not, you would have been dead like everyone else."

"Yeah," Powell sighed, "Look can we not talk about it."

"Very well," Kaidan said with a nod, "We better hop on the cargo trains, Commander."

Shepard nodded, "Thanks for the help, Powell. Come on."

The four of them headed towards the cargo trains, stopping when nearly a dozen geth came into sight.

"Shit," Ashley whispered, "We'll have to fight them all to get to the train."

"Whatever it takes," Patrick murmured a response, taking out his pistol. The sooner they got off Eden Prime the better. At least then they would be on the Normandy and then the Citadel for a bit.

The geth opened fire first. Patrick and Shepard ducked underneath the same crate while Kaidan and Ashley took two others.

Patrick peered over and fired a couple rounds, watching as a red armored geth went down.

"Nice shot," Shepard praised before taking out two geth.

"You too," Patrick shouted over the roar of the guns, grinning slightly at fighting alongside Shepard.

Once the geth were knocked out, Shepard went to the controls and sent them flying forward. Towards Saren.

Ashley stretched and sighed, "It's going to be a couple minutes."

"I don't get it," Kaidan said with a shake of his head, "Why would Saren kill Nihlus? A fellow Spectre?"

"Maybe Saren wants the beacon?" Patrick suggested.

Ashley laughed, "Yeah right. What would a turian get out of having a Prothean beacon?"

Patrick shrugged, "You never know."

"So where did you say you were from, kid?" Ashley asked, reloading her rifle as she spoke.

"Earth," Patrick grinned: his first time telling the truth since he met up with everyone.

Shepard looked at him, "Me too. Where did you grow up?"

"The shore of the Atlantic Ocean," Patrick explained, not having a clue as to what anything was called anymore and besides he wasn't lying. He did live on the Jersey Shore.

Shepard nodded, "I lived in New Montana."

"Oh," Patrick nodded, having no idea where New Montana was.

"We're here," Ashley said suddenly as the cargo train screeched to a stop.

"Does anyone else here a ticking sound?" Kaidan asked as he got off, unsheathing his pistol.

"Shit!" Patrick swore, running over to a corner where he knew the bomb awaited them. Saren's idea of wiping away all trace of his doings on Eden Prime.

"The geth must be trying to blow up the whole colony," Ashley explained unnecessarily.

"We'll have to deactivate them," Kaidan asked, another obvious statement.

"How many do you think there are?" Shepard asked.

"Four," Patrick said suddenly, recalling that they would also have only four minutes to deactivate them.

"How do you-" Kaidan began, but Shepard cut across him,

"We can talk later. Alenko, go with Williams to clear out the geth. Hamilton and I will deactivate the bombs behind you."

Shepard's orders were followed and Kaidan and Ashley raced up ahead, firing gun shots every few seconds. Shepard bent down towards the bomb, "Know how to deactivate these things?"

"No," Patrick answered simply, staring at the bomb. It looked like a giant box of wires and Patrick didn't even know if he was supposed to touch them. Best if Shepard dealt with this problem.

"I'll do it," Shepard said, "Cover me."

Patrick took out his gun and held it out at arm's length as two geth shock troopers came towards him and Shepard. Patrick closed his eyes and pulled the trigger rapidly, hearing two thumps on the ground. He opened his blues eyes and the two geth were dead… or whatever it is geth do.

"Good aim," Shepard praised, "Come on. If you're right there are still three more bombs out there."

Patrick followed Shepard up a flight of stairs and the commander bent over another bomb just as a scream was heard.

Shepard froze, "Williams."

Shepard turned to face Patrick, "Hamilton, go help Williams. Take my omni-tool and these medi-gels in case anyone is hurt."

Patrick nodded, "Will you be okay, sir?"

That was the last thing anyone needed: Shepard dying.

Shepard nodded, "I'm Commander Shepard. I'll be fine. Go help Williams and Alenko."

Patrick nodded and sprinted towards where Kaidan was, crouched over Ashley's body. He heard Patrick come over and turned his head, "She was shot. There was just too many of them."

"Can you hold them off while I heal her?" Patrick nodded, turning on Shepard's omni-tool, causing his hand to glow orange.

"Yes," Kaidan nodded, shifting his position so that he was in front of Patrick and Ashley.

Patrick leaned over Ashley and stared at the omni-tool in utter confusion.

"What am I supposed to do?" Patrick whispered under his breath.

He waved his hand over Ashley and was surprised to see her shields return and her eyes flutter open.

_Guess this part is just like the game, _Patrick thought, waving a hand over the omni-tool and closing it. _Wonder if I will be alive when my world gets this kind of technology._

"Patrick?" Ashley whispered, pushing herself up, "What happened?"

"You were wounded," Patrick said gently, "You're going to be fine, Chief."

"He's right," Shepard said suddenly, appearing at Patrick's shoulder. Patrick just realized that the third bomb was right next to them. Shepard had already deactivated it. "Alenko, come with me to disarm the last bomb. Hamilton, cover our backs and watch Williams."

"I don't need any help," Ashley snapped, standing up, but immediately going back down, clutching her side. Patrick reached out a hand to steady her, "Thanks kid."

"Okay so Alenko come with me," Shepard ordered, "You two stay safe."

Shepard and Kaidan raced forward while Patrick stood up, allowing Ashley to lean on him. "You okay, Chief?"

Ashley nodded, smiling softly as she took out her pistol, "Never better. Now let's kill some geth."

Patrick and Ashley both peaked around the corner, shooting any geth that so much as even looked at Shepard and Kaidan. The two of them walked slowly forward, Ashley limping heavily. Shepard and Kaidan met them half way.

"All the bombs deactivated?" Ashley asked her voice weak.

Kaidan nodded, "Let's get you out of here, Chief."

The four of them hurried forward, Ashley still leaning on Patrick.

"Shit," Shepard swore as the four of them saw the beacon, surrounded by geth and husks. "Why is nothing ever easy?"

"Do we have a plan?" Patrick asked, wrapping an arm around Ashley's waist while taking out his pistol. Ashley clung to him and in clear, crisp air of Eden Prime; he could smell the rusty-scent of blood.

"No," Shepard answered simply.

"That's my favorite type of plan," Patrick grinned.

"Can you snipe, Hamilton?" Kaidan asked, taking out his sniper rifle and handing it to Patrick.

"Not really, but how hard can it be?"

Kaidan shared a glance with Shepard and shrugged, "Try and cover us while staying close to Williams."

"No," Ashley spoke, "I'll cover you guys."

"We're not leaving you alone," Shepard said firmly.

"Fine, leave Hamilton with me," Ashley allowed, "He can cover me while I cover you two."

"Any objections?" Shepard asked. No one said anything. "Okay, let's go charge into a giant group of enemies."

"Always fun," Kaidan laughed and the two of them walked down the stairs, instantly opening fire.

Ashley put the sniper rifle to her shoulder and began shooting the heads of husks.

"Good aim," Patrick praised.

"Thanks," Ashley grinned, glancing at Patrick, "Shit, kid, husk!"

Patrick turned and instantly was thrown backwards by a glowing husk.

Patrick pushed himself up, feeling a bruise already appearing on his back, and took out his pistol. The husk began charging towards him and with a quick move of his finger; Patrick blew off the mindless creature's head.

"Shit, kid, you okay?" Ashley asked.

Patrick stretched his shoulder. It hurt like hell, but he was alive. "I'm fine."

"Hey, everything's clear down here!" Kaidan called suddenly and Patrick stretched out his hand for Ashley to take,

"Ready to get off this hellhole, Chief?"

"Definitely, farmer."

The two of them walked down the flight of stairs, Ashley still leaning on Patrick heavily.

"You two okay?" Shepard asked.

"I've been worse," Ashley smiled softly.

Kaidan walked towards them, "The beacon is secured."

They all turned to look at it and there it was. Standing at around eight feet and omitting an eerie glow, the silver piece of Prothean technology glowed green, enticing them forward.

Shepard lifted his hand to his face, "Joker, the beacon is secure. Come pick us up in the Normandy."

"Why is it glowing like that?" Kaidan asked before turning to Shepard.

"It wasn't doing anything like that when it was dug up," Ashley whispered, "Something must have activated it."

Ashley took a step forward and Patrick knew what was going to happen before it did.

Ashley was suddenly sucked forward, being dragged on the cool, metal surface.

"Shit, Ash!" Patrick exclaimed, moving forward faster than he would have thought possible for him. He grabbed Ashley by the waist and threw her to the ground just before feeling the beacon pull him in.

_No! _He shouted in his mind just as he felt his feet leave the ground, _its Shepard you want! Not me!_

Patrick's eyes widened as images flashed by him, images of a planet.

_Illos. _

Patrick felt himself be thrown backwards, his vision going black as his head hit something hard.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Normandy

Patrick's head throbbed as he pushed himself off the metal table, vision hazy. His arms were shaky and he momentarily forgot where he was until a familiar voice exclaimed, "Dr. Chakwas! Dr. Chakwas! He's waking up!"

_Ashley? _Patrick turned to see a woman walk towards him, Ashley Williams moving slowly behind her.

"How are you feeling, Hamilton?" The woman asked, pushing a strand of gray hair out of sharp amber eyes. Her skin was wrinkled slightly, but despite her obvious age, she still looked very fit. Patrick instantly knew that she was Dr. Chakwas.

"A minor headache," Patrick answered, rubbing his temple with one hand. It was then that he noticed that he was wearing a blue shirt and pants: the Normandy's traditional uniform. The cloth clung to his chest and he wondered who dressed him in it. "Nothing serious. How long was I out?"

"Fifteen hours," Dr. Chakwas explained.

_Damn. That's more than I sleep normally._

"That beacon exploded," Ashley explained gently, "I must have activated and you had to pull me out of the way. It's my fault."

"Don't blame yourself," Patrick whispered, still trying to massage his throbbing temples, "You had no idea what would happen."

Ashley nodded while Dr. Chakwas added, "I've detected minor changes to your attitude. Nothing serious, but I have noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement. Signs that point to intense dreaming."

"I saw…" Patrick's voice trailed off. What could he say? "I saw death, destruction. Nothing is very clear."

"I'll have to add this to my report," Dr. Chakwas said, "Then- oh Captain Anderson, Commander Shepard."

Patrick's head snapped up. Shepard walked in, Captain Anderson strolling right beside him. Anderson looked just like he did in the game: balding yet still tough enough to command an entire ship.

"How is he holding up, Doctor?" Anderson asked his voice rough.

"Should be fine," Dr. Chakwas answered.

"Good," Anderson said, "Hamilton, can I talk to you alone? With Commander Shepard?"

"Aye aye, sir," Ashley said, saluting Anderson, "I'll be in the mess if you need me."

Ashley walked out of the room, followed by Dr. Chakwas while Shepard crossed his arms and asked, "How are you, kid?"

"Fine," Patrick said with a nod, "So what did you two want to talk to me about?"

"You probably won't understand this," Anderson said, "But things aren't looking good for the Alliance. That turian, Nihlus, turned up dead and the beacon destroyed-"

Shepard raised his hand, "Don't blame him, Captain. That was Saren's fault, not his."

"I know that and I'll stand beside both of you when we talk to the Ambassador," Anderson said.

"We're going to the Citadel?" Patrick asked excitedly.

"Yes," Anderson said with a nod, "We need to inform the Ambassador and the Council about the beacon and Saren."

"One more thing," Shepard said, "We don't know what Saren wants, but it had something to do with that beacon. Hamilton, did you see anything right before the beacon self-destructed? Any clue that would show us what Saren is after?"

"Right before I passed out, I had a-" Patrick's voice trailed off, "A vision. I saw synthetics killing people."

"Geth?" Shepard asked.

"No…" Patrick paused and then slowly said, "I think they were Reapers."

"Reapers?" Shepard asked.

"When I studied the Protheans," Patrick lied. "I learned that the Protheans may have been wiped out by an advanced race of sentient machines. I think I saw the Reapers wiping out the Protheans."

Shepard and Anderson shared a glance.

"We can't go with that idea unless we have solid proof," Anderson said slowly.

_Don't tell me in this version; Anderson isn't going to side with us!_

"Fine," Patrick said, "Let's head to the Citadel."

Anderson nodded, "Commander, walk with me."

Patrick followed them and walked out of the med-bay, looking over at the mess where Ashley was sitting. She waved him over and Patrick sat down. Ashley tucked a lose strand of black hair behind her ear, "Glad to see you up, farmer."

"Me too," Patrick grinned, "I can honestly say, I did not expect my day to be like this."

Ashley laughed, "I don't think either of us did. So what do you think we are going to do?"

"I'm going to see what the Ambassador and the Council say," Patrick said, "Hopefully I can stay on the Normandy with the Commander at least I know him and the lieutenant."

"And me," Ashley smiled, "Captain Anderson asked me if I wanted to stay on the Normandy."

Patrick nodded, "You are a very valuable edition to the crew. You saved my neck more than once on Eden Prime."

Ashley nodded, "Eden Prime. We lost a lot of good men."

"We did," Patrick whispered.

"I lost a home," Ashley sighed.

_Will I even return to mine? _Patrick thought to himself, feeling sick to his stomach about the last conversation he had with William. _Did his family even realize he was gone?_

"Hey Williams, Hamilton," Patrick glanced over as Kaidan took a seat next to them. "Kid, you took quite a hit out there. You okay?"

Patrick shrugged, "Could have been worse. I'm still walking."

"You're still alive," Ashley added.

"Do you think you will be assigned to the Normandy?" Kaidan asked, "You proved to everyone that you could be a valuable asset to the team. The Chief and I will back you up to Anderson and I'm sure Shepard won't say no."

"I guess we should just see what happens on the Citadel," Patrick said with a shrug, remembering everything that was to come.

_Garrus._

_Wrex. _

_Tali. _

"Speaking of the Citadel, we should be getting close," Ashley observed.

"Have either of you been to the Citadel?" Kaidan asked.

"No," Ashley said and Patrick shook his head, "What about you LT?"

"Once, but I only visited the embassies to talk to the Ambassador about a mission I had been a part of," Kaidan said, "I didn't go to the Wards or anywhere else."

"That's more than me," Ashley laughed.

"Approaching the Citadel," Everyone looked up as a voice spoke over the intercom. "ET about twenty minutes."

_Joker. _Patrick thought to himself, but he must have looked confused for Kaidan explained.

"That's Joker, the pilot of the Normandy. He's one of the best."

"Want to go up and see Joker bring us in?" Ashley asked.

"Why not," Patrick grinned and the three of them stood up, heading up a flight of stairs towards the cockpit. Patrick could feel Kaidan's eyes on him as he led the way and he knew the lieutenant was surprised that he knew where he was going. Patrick hoped that he would just think it was common sense.

"Shepard," Kaidan said with a nod as the three of them stood by their commander.

"Alenko," Shepard nodded in return, "Come to see Joker pull us in?"

"Good timing," Joker said from the pilot's seat, "I'm about to bring us in."

All four of them crowded by the nearby windows and Patrick couldn't help, but grin at the site. The Citadel shined in the bright purple light and a giant ship hovered by the entrance.

"Look at that ship!" Ashley exclaimed, showing Patrick that she had noticed it as well. Not that it was hard to see. "It's cannon could destroy any ship in the Alliance."

"The Ascension," Kaidan explained, "The flagship of the Citadel council."

"It's not that great," Joker said with a shrug.

"Why so touchy Joker?" Ashley asked, grinning beside Patrick.

"I'm just saying size isn't all that matters," Joker said quickly. "Okay I'm pulling us in. Shepard, you should pick your ground team now. The rest of us can wait on the Normandy."

"I think that the Commander should actually bring everyone from Eden Prime," Everyone turned as Anderson walked towards them. "The Ambassador and the Council will want everyone who was there when the beacon was destroyed to testify."

"Not to mention that Saren is a traitor," Ashley added quietly.

Anderson nodded, "They should know that one of their top agents has gone rogue. Hamilton, you should also tell them about your vision. It probably was caused by the beacon."

"What are we going to tell them, Captain?" Patrick asked and after he said that he thought he sounded a lot like Shepard. "That I had a bad dream? They'll think I'm nuts."

"We can't hide this from them," Anderson said.

"Okay, we've landed," Joker said, "I'll see the five of you later."

Patrick followed Anderson and Shepard out of the airlock, seeing the Citadel for the very first time.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

_The Citadel_

"We'll admit the attack of Eden Prime is of some concern," Patrick stared at the Asari Councilor, not being able to get an image of a squid out of his mind. The Asari's figure looked completely human, but every time she- Patrick knew there were no genders among the Asari, but it was easier to just call them girls- turned her head, he could see her tentacle "hair."

The other two councilors were a Turian and a Salarian. The Turian looked a lot like Nihlus- Patrick hadn't seen any Turians other then the two of them so he couldn't compare really. The Salarian had his cloak up the whole time, but reminded Patrick a lot of a salamander. After silently pondering it, Patrick wondered if that was how the Salarians got their names.

"Some concern?" Patrick felt Shepard move beside him. Patrick, Shepard, Ashley, Kaidan, and Anderson had met up with Ambassador Udina- who looked a lot like he did in the game except with more wrinkles- and he had patched them through to the Council and so far the whole conversation was just wasting time. "Do you know how many civilians died on Eden Prime? Not to mention Nihlus, one of _your _Spectres, who was killed by Saren, another Spectre?"

"Settle down, Shepard," Udina snapped and annoyance flared in Patrick's chest. By the way Shepard tensed up; he wagered that the Commander was feeling the same thing. "I'll handle this."

"The Commander's right," Kaidan said, walking over to stand next to Udina, "Saren is a danger to the galaxy."

"Alenko," Udina snapped.

"Humans," The Turian growled and was about to add something else, but the Asari Councilor raised her hand to silence him.

"A C-sec officer is running an investigation on Saren," She said, "We will discuss his findings at the trial."

Udina nodded and severed the communication before rounding on Anderson, "You brought your whole crew, Anderson? It would have been more productive had it just been me and you."

"I thought you might want to talk to them," Anderson explained. "They _were _the ground team on Eden Prime."

"What about this kid?" Patrick felt his face darken as everyone turned to look at him.

"Hey, Hamilton helped us-" Kaidan grabbed Ashley's arm as she made her way to Udina, her amber eyes narrowed.

"Hamilton may not be apart of the Alliance, but I'm willing to take him along on the Normandy," Shepard said.

"With all due respect, Shepard," Udina snapped at the Commander, his voice completely disrespectful, "It's not your decision to make. It's Anderson's."

"I agree with the Commander, Ambassador," Anderson said.

"You want to take a _farmer _with you?" Udina asked, glancing at Patrick who looked away quickly. "Why?"

"You saw our reports," Anderson said, "We talked about Hamilton's vision."

"It could have just been a dream," Udina snapped. "Or a hallucination. Who knows what people eat on Eden Prime?"

"I was on Eden Prime-" Again Ashley was hushed, but this time was Patrick.

"It's okay, Chief," Patrick said, "I don't want to complicate things. I can stay on the Citadel and get a job or something."

At that moment there was nothing Patrick wanted more than traveling on the Normandy, but he couldn't ruin the game and the life of these people who had risked their lives to help him, even if they were merely pixels on a screen.

"Good," Udina smirked, "I need a secretary."

"No," Shepard snapped, "Captain-"

Anderson nodded, "Ambassador, Hamilton will stay with us. He will become a member of a crew and anything that happens in the future, I take responsibility for."

Udina nodded although it looked like he wasn't pleased, "Very well. Anderson, I want to talk to you before the trial. Shepard, we'll see you and the others there. Be on time."

The two of them walked out and Ashley shook her head, "And that's why I hate politics."

Patrick turned to face Shepard, "Commander, I appreciate you and Anderson sticking your necks out for me, but really I don't want to cause trouble for anyone. If it makes more sense for me to stay on the Citadel, I'll be fine."

"Hamilton," Shepard said, "As much as I enjoy fighting with Udina, we need you on the Normandy. You are a valuable member of the crew and with training you could become a good soldier. Also that vision is important. Udina might not believe it, but that beacon did something to your brain."

"Great I'm brain damaged," Patrick rolled his eyes and Shepard stared at him, "Kidding."

"So what are we going to do, Commander?" Kaidan asked.

"Prepare to see the Council," Shepard answered calmly.

"Think it's going to help?" Kaidan asked.

This time Patrick answered. "Probably not. Humans still don't have the respect we need. At least not compared to the Turians. Especially Spectre Turians."

"Hamilton's probably right," Shepard said, "In that case we need to figure out what to do about Saren in case the Council doesn't believe us. We need to find some way to warn everyone. About Saren. About the Geth."

"We'll know nothing until the trial," Kaidan said, "Who knows? Maybe the Council will believe us."

"And maybe pigs will fly," Ashley sighed.

The four of them walked out of Udina's office and hailed a cab. Shepard sat down behind the wheel while Kaidan sat down beside him, leaving Patrick and Ashley to squeeze in the back.

"These things always look bigger on the television," Patrick mumbled without thinking.

"Television?" Kaidan asked.

"I meant the vids," Patrick said, placing his head in his hands. He was going to have to be a lot more careful.

"You okay, farmer?" Patrick felt Ashley place a hand on his back.

"You'll feel better once we are on the ground," Shepard said, setting the cab outside the tall, white building where even Patrick knew the Council was. "And here we are."

"So any idea on what you are going to say to the Council, Commander?" Kaidan asked as the four of them climbed out of the cab.

"I'll probably just wing it," Shepard grinned, "After all, there's like a ninety-nine percent chance they won't even believe us."

"Who knows," Kaidan said, "Maybe the C-Sec investigation will turn up some interesting facts about Saren. After all, according to Captain Anderson said Saren hates humans. Maybe there is some proof of it."

"We'll not doing anything standing here," Ashley said, "Let's go get shot down by the Council."

"Exactly how I wanted to spend my day," Shepard grinned as the four of them headed up to the Council chambers.

"Just give me more time!" A voice shouted as the elevator doors slid open. "Stall them!"

"Who's that?" Kaidan asked.

_Garrus._

"Stall the Council?" Garrus's companion snapped, "Are you completely mad? The trial just started! Your investigation is over, Garrus!" Patrick watched the Turian storm away while Garrus headed towards them.

Garrus's features were much paler than Nihlus or the Turian Councilor and his blue armor showed signs of a tough career, but he carried himself with such a powerful air that Patrick couldn't help, but be impressed.

"Commander Shepard?" Garrus asked in a rough voice, giving Shepard a small nod. "I'm Garrus, the C-Sec officer who was in charge of the investigation of Saren."

Shepard nodded, "I heard you fighting."

"That was my boss," Garrus said, "I was trying to get more time for my investigation."

"Commander, the Council is waiting for us," Kaidan said.

"Good luck, Commander," Garrus said, "Maybe they'll listen to you."

The four of them walked towards the Council's chamber.

"What's that?" Kaidan nodded towards a keeper.

"A keeper," Patrick said, again without thinking.

He felt Kaidan's eyes on him, but before the lieutenant could say anything, Captain Anderson waved them over, "Come on, you four. The trial just started."

"Saren," The Asari Councilor said as Shepard led them to stand beside Udina, a giant holographic Saren hovering over everyone, "You have been charged on the attack of the human colony, Eden Prime, and the death of a Turian Spectre, Nihlus."

"I resent these charges," Saren growled, "Nihlus was a fellow Spectre and a friend."

"That just let you catch him off guard!" Anderson shouted up at Saren.

"Captain Anderson," Saren sneered at the Captain, "Why is it that whenever humanity makes false accusations against me you are always present?"

"These accusations aren't false!" Shepard shouted, taking a step towards the Council, but Kaidan grabbed his arm.

"And this must be your protégée, Commander Shepard," Saren growled, "The one who let the beacon get destroyed."

"That was you, not me," Shepard shouted, "Then you tried to cover it up!"

"Shifting the blame to cover up your own failures," Saren growled, "Just like Captain Anderson."

"See he hates us!" Shepard shouted.

"Your species needs to learn its place, Commander," Saren growled, "You aren't ready to join the Council! You aren't even ready to join the Spectres."

"He can't say that," Udina shouted, "That's not his decision."

"Shepard's purpose in the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting, Saren," The Asari Councilor said.

"This meeting has no purpose," Saren sneered, "The humans are wasting my time and yours, Councilors."

"You can't hide behind the Council forever!" Shepard shouted.

Captain Anderson nodded, "An eye-witness saw Saren kill Nihlus in cold blood."

"A traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling evidence," The Salarian Councilor said.

The Asari Councilor nodded, "And the C-Sec investigation turned up no evidence to suggest that Saren was even on Eden Prime."

"There is one more matter that needs to be discussed," Patrick froze as Anderson pushed him forward to stand beside Shepard, "Patrick Hamilton's vision. It may have been caused by the beacon."

"Are we allowing dreams to be evidence now?" Saren sneered, "How can I defend myself against this kind of testimony? Especially since it is a _farmer _who had the dream."

"Saren is right," The Turian Councilor said.

The Salarian Councilor nodded, "Have you anything to say, Commander?"

"You made your decision," Shepard said coolly, "I won't waste my breath."

"Then Saren is found innocent," The Asari Councilor declared, "Ambassador, your petition to have him taken out of the Spectres has been denied."

"I'm glad to see justice was served," Saren said and Patrick clenched his fists at the Turian's tone.

Anderson led everyone out and as soon as they stopped walking, Udina rounded on him.

"It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing, Captain," Udina snapped, "You and Saren have too much history together. The Council wouldn't take us seriously. I'm removing you from this investigation."

"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of everything," Shepard said.

"No, its okay, Commander," Anderson said, "The Ambassador is right."

"So what should we do now?" Ashley asked.

"Well there is no doubt that Saren was behind Eden Prime," Patrick said, "We just have to find a way for the Council to believe us."

Kaidan nodded, "What about Garrus? That C-Sec officer?"

"That's right," Ashley said with a nod, "He seemed like he had found something big on Saren."

"It couldn't hurt to see him," Shepard said. "Now we just have to find him."

"I have a contact in C-Sec," Udina said, "Harkin might be able to help you."

"Forget it," Anderson said, "Harkin's a drunk. I wouldn't waste my time with him."

"I was merely giving Shepard a suggestion," Udina said, "Now if you excuse me I have some calls to make."

And with that Udina walked off without a second glance backwards.

Anderson shook his head, "Harkin's probably getting drunk in Chora's Den."

Shepard shared a glance with Patrick, "You want us to go see him?"

"As you said, Shepard," Anderson answered, "It couldn't hurt. Now is there anything else I can help you with?"

"You and Saren have a history," Shepard said, "What happened?"

Anderson shook his head, "It's a long story, Commander. Find me at a later time."

Shepard nodded, "Come on, you three. Let's head over to Chora's Den."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

_Garrus_

Chora's Den reminded of a typical American gentlemen's club… not that he had ever been to one. The walls were bright silver and a giant sign hung on the mountain of metal, flashing blue and purple lights as a mechanical girl was advertised. It wasn't a human though, not that Patrick had been expecting it be. Humans weren't as seductive to other species like the Asaris were. The Asari's limbs moved along with the advertisement, her body framed in a bright blue light similar to the color of their skin. All in all, the creators had left out a lot of descriptive characteristics when they made the game. Patrick didn't blame them though. He doubted any of them had actually stood outside the infamous Chora's den.

"Nice place," Kaidan said with a nod as he and Ashley climbed out of the backseat of the cab. Patrick had earned the privilege to sit beside Shepard as the quartet flew over the Citadel. At first inspection, the Wards appeared to be very much like the upper levels of the Presidium, but after standing out in the polluted air, anyone could tell that the Council didn't pay as much attention to the slums below them.

"You would say that wouldn't you?" Ashley laughed as Kaidan loaned her a hand and she pulled herself out of the cab. Ashley glanced around them before her amber eyes landed on Shepard, "So skipper, you really think it's worth our time to see what Harkin knows? Anderson said he was a drunk. Not to mention he was suspended from C-Sec last month. How much could he know?"

"Anderson also suggested that we see him," Shepard said with a shrug although it was clear he was reluctant to put trust in the drunken C-Sec officer even if a higher ranking officer suggested him, "Even if Harkin doesn't give us any new information, we can at least honestly say we tried. This may be the easiest way to find and reach Garrus, but I doubt that it is the only way."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Patrick asked and took a step forward just as a shot was fired over his head. Patrick ducked and looked up at the wall where a smoking hole had appeared, "What the-"

"Get down, Hamilton," Patrick felt Shepard shove him down before the four of them ducked behind a wall as a couple more shots were fired at them. Patrick barely hesitated as he withdrew his pistol and then glanced at Shepard, not wanting to act until the Commander ordered them to.

"That's him!" Patrick heard one of the assassins shout in the gruff voice of a turian and Shepard made eye contact with everyone before giving a slight nod. Already knowing what it meant, Patrick pulled himself up and fired off a couple shots. With Ashley's help, one turian went down while Shepard and Kaidan brought down the other one in a couple of seconds.

"Those were Saren's men," Kaidan whispered as they walked towards the dead assassins, teal blue blood spilling out of their heads and onto the silver sidewalk. Kaidan bent down and touched their armor, "There's nothing here. No orders or anything."

"Then how can you be so sure they are Saren's men?" Shepard asked his lieutenant as he too bent down to examine the two turians. "They just look like a couple assassins?"

"I think the lieutenant is right, Commander," Patrick offered, standing above Shepard and Kaidan's heads. "After all, who else would be trying to kill us?"

"The farmer's right, skipper," Ashley said, "But it doesn't make any sense? How could the assassins or even Saren know where we were? How could he know we were heading to Chora's den?"

Shepard shrugged, "Maybe he has someone tailing us or maybe it was just common sense. After all, Saren knows we are trying to bring him in. Maybe he predicted that we would go after Garrus."

Ashley glanced at the sky, "Let's head inside. If Saren is indeed having assassins tail us, I will feel much more comfortable when we're inside somewhere."

"I agree," Patrick added as he felt his neck hair rise. Despite the fact that he knew this was the last time Saren's assassins would attack Shepard, he couldn't shake the feeling of someone watching them.

Shepard led the way into Chora's den and inside loud music reached Patrick's ears. The inside of the club was flashing with blue and pink lights that gleamed off the silver walls. Asari danced around as men sat down in large chairs, their dates sometimes on their laps as their boyfriends watched the aliens dance.

"Now don't you three get any ideas," Ashley laughed and Patrick grinned at her as the four of them walked around. Patrick was surprised at how many other species there were. For some reason, he only imagined humans at Chora's den, but there were many turians and even a handful of salarians.

Shepard suddenly stopped and Patrick was about to ask why until he saw the reasons. A krogan- there was no denying the large alien- shoved another one, causing him to stumble.

"Back off Wrex," The first krogan growled and Patrick found himself staring at Wrex. The alien reminded him of a giant reptile and frog hybrid with scars embedded on its green skin. Patrick could honestly say he had never seen anything as ugly, but he found the alien fascinating. This didn't look like a creature that could be destroyed by something as common as a disease… even if that disease was the genophage. "Fist told us to take you down if you showed up again."

"What are you waiting for?" Wrex growled in response. "I'm standing right here."

"Fist isn't coming out," The other krogan growled, walking back to his post, "Go home, Wrex."

Wrex snarled and Patrick was sure a fight was about to break out, but Wrex merely walked away, shoving into Shepard, "Out of my way, human, I have no quarrel with you."

"What was that?" Kaidan asked as Wrex disappeared from sight.

"Who knows," Ashley responded with a shrug, "Let's just not get caught in the middle of it."

"Oh, we're going to get caught in it," Patrick whispered to himself as he and the others followed Shepard to where a bald man was sitting, a beer in his hand.

"Alliance, huh?" Harkin laughed, his speech slurred from his drink, "I could have been Alliance, but no. I had to sign up for the god damn C-Sec. Biggest god damn mistake of my life."

Harkin then turned to Ashley, putting his drink on the table, "I like how you look in the armor, girl. How about you take a seat down here besides good ol' Harkin?"

Patrick could tell Ashley was about to give him a smart response and apparently so did Shepard because he stepped in front of the two, "Harkin, I presume? I was told you might be able to help me. I'm looking for a C-Sec officer named Garrus."

"Garrus?" Harkin scratched his chin, stubble painted on his face, "Hm… you must be one of Captain Anderson's men. Poor bastard still trying to bring Saren down, I take it?"

"Just answer the question," Ashley snapped.

"Oh I will," Harkin grinned, "But first tell me this. Did the Captain let you in on his big secret?"

"That doesn't concern me," Shepard snapped, "We're only looking for Garrus."

"But it's connected don't you see?" Harkin grinned, "The Captain used to be a Spectre. Didn't know that did you? It was all very hush, hush. First human ever given that honor and then he blew it. Poor bastard blamed Saren though. He couldn't take the blame."

"This doesn't concern us," Shepard snapped, "We are just looking for Garrus."

Harkin shrugged, "Last I heard, he was looking for Doctor Michel."

"Thanks," Patrick muttered as the four of them walked away.

"Now get out of here," Harkin called after them, "And let me drink in peace!"

"Charming fellow," Patrick mumbled as they walked out and Ashley laughed with him before adding,

"Why didn't the Captain tell us he used to be a Spectre?"

"Maybe it's not true," Kaidan said with a shrug, "Harkin's an ass. I bet he was just messing with us."

Ashley shrugged in response, "I would still like to do know if it was true or not."

"After we find Garrus maybe we're have time to interrogate the Captain," Patrick joked as the four of them hopped into a cab that Shepard hailed. Even though they were in the Wards, none of them knew how far away Dr. Michel's office was.

"This place is huge," Kaidan whispered as he stared out the window as they flew around the Citadel. Kaidan had once again claimed his spot in the front seat. "You see it on the vids, but watching it secondhand makes it look so much smaller."

"It makes every other city of visited look like a village," Ashley added.

"No one the Council is careful about newcomers," Shepard said as drove them around. "They represent a lot more races than I thought."

Patrick nodded, "Humans are going to have to work hard to catch up with everything the Council has accomplished. We are like children in a sea of adults."

"Very poetic," Ashley laughed before growing serious once more, "No wonder aliens don't like us."

"It's not they don't like us," Shepard said, "The Council and other species just see as us too aggressive, too headstrong. Sometimes they're right."

"Don't forget Asari live for thousands of years and the krogan aren't far from them," Patrick commented, "We're short-lived compared to them. I think we have the right to be a little aggressive in headstrong. We don't have as much time."

"True," Kaidan said, "But that doesn't mean we can push the other species around. They know so much more than us. If we listen to them, we might be able to further our own technology."

"Here we are," Shepard said as he set them down, "Dr. Michel's office."

"Think Garrus will be here?" Kaidan asked.

"I'm almost positive Garrus will be here," Patrick said with a grin as he took out his pistol.

"What? Are you going to shoot Garrus?" Kaidan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Always like to be prepared," Patrick said as Shepard opened the door. There Garrus was crouched by the glass as four thugs walked over to Dr. Michel.

"I swear I didn't tell anyone," Dr. Michel cried as the lead thug backed her into a wall.

"Good doc," The thug smirked, "Now you just keep your mouth shut when Garrus comes around."

A thug turned and his eyes locked with Patrick's, "Boss! We have company!"

Garrus jumped up and took out the lead thug while Patrick and the others opened fire on the remaining three thugs. Once the last one hit the ground, Patrick followed Shepard, who was chastising Garrus,

"Are you crazy? You could have hit the hostage!"

"I…" Garrus's voice trailed off and he turned to Dr. Michel, "Doctor, are you alright?"

"Yes I'm fine," Dr. Michel whispered in her thick accent, "Thanks to you, Garrus. All of you."

"Can you tell us what those men wanted with you, Doctor?" Shepard asked.

"They wanted to know about the quarian," Dr. Michel said.

"Quarian?" Garrus asked.

Dr. Michel nodded, "A quarian came to me a couple days ago. She was shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I patched her up and she asked me about the Shadow Broker. She said she had some very important information so I put her in contact with Fist."

"Did she say what type of information?" Shepard asked, taking a step closer to Dr. Michel, "Did it have anything to do with Saren or the geth?"

Dr. Michel nodded eagerly, "Yes! She said that her information had something to do with the geth!"

Dr. Michel paused before asking, "Do you think I was wrong to put her in contact with First?"

"Who is Fist?" Kaidan asked.

"An agent of the Shadow Broker," Dr. Michel explained.

"Not anymore," Garrus said, "Now he works for Saren."

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Dr. Michel asked, "That's stupid even for him."

"Looks like we should pay Fist a visit," Shepard suggested.

"Shepard, I know this is your mission, but let me come with you," Garrus pleaded.

Shepard shared a glance with Kaidan who nodded, "Welcome aboard, Garrus."

"Thank you, Commander," Garrus said before adding, "Just so you know we aren't the only ones looking for Fist. The Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter, Wrex, to take him out."

Ashley nodded, "We saw him."

"It couldn't help to pay him a visit," Kaidan added, but Shepard shook his head,

"We have enough troops to take down Fist."

Patrick glanced away. Was Wrex not going to accompany them? How different would their mission be if Wrex was left on the Citadel?"

"Okay, Alenko and Garrus," Shepard said, "Come with me. Let's pay Fist a visit."

Patrick blinked in surprise and Ashley seemed to not like the idea of being left behind either for she snapped, "What about Patrick and me?"

Had Patrick not been annoyed at Shepard, he would have been surprised that Ashley called him Patrick. It usually was always "farmer" or "kid."

"You and Hamilton will stay in the embassies," Shepard ordered, "While the three of us go and see Fist."

"What if you need help?" Patrick asked.

"I think we are more than capable of taking out Fist," Shepard said before the Commander, Kaidan, and Garrus walked out of the office, leaving Patrick and Ashley behind.

"Like hell we are staying in the embassies," Ashley muttered, "Come on, farmer. Let's see if we can find a bar nicer than Chora's den."

**A/N: **Sorry if there are any grammatical errors. I'm on my grandmother's computer and she doesn't have a spelling check or grammar check on her computer. Anyway please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

_Tali'Zorah nar Rayya  
_

"Stupid Shepard," Ashley said with a roll of her amber eyes as they sat down at a table in the other Wards' bar, the Flux. Patrick nodded in agreement, thinking about when he played Shepard in the game and had to take two crew members, leaving the others on the Normandy. Patrick had never given any thought to what the other characters had been feeling about being left behind- he didn't fully blame himself; after all he had thought they were merely pixels on a screen- but now as he waited for Shepard's return, he pondered if the other crew members felt annoyance towards the Commander. After all, Ashley was incredibly pissed that Shepard hadn't done a team of five. Had she been pissed when Patrick left her aboard the Normandy? Or had the writers not given any thought to her annoyance?

"You okay there farmer?" Ashley asked and Patrick nodded again, "You're awfully quiet."

"Tired," Patrick murmured quietly before looking down at the silver table. Tired was one way of describing what he was feeling. He was always feeling confused, overwhelmed, and homesick. He was still confused about how he ended up in the _Mass Effect_ universe and with his knowledge about the upcoming events, Patrick felt overwhelmed. Should he warn Shepard about the Reapers? Should warn Ashley or Kaidan that Shepard has the chance of killing one of them on Virmire? Patrick was worried that if he disclosed any information about the future, it would either jeopardize being allowed to travel on the Normandy with Shepard or it could create a whole new dimension. And that was why Patrick was feeling homesick. He missed the simplicity of the "real world" and he missed Lily and his brothers. Hell he even missed William even though they had fought the last time they saw each other. Patrick wondered how his father was taking his disappearance. Did he even notice he was gone?

"Let's get you something to eat," Ashley said with a small smile as she waved over one of the waiters who hurried towards her. Patrick leaned back in his chair. Maybe during the game when Patrick had left behind some crew members, they merely went out dinner. That wasn't so bad. "Hey. We were wondering what you would recommend to eat?"

The waiter nodded, "We got a nice selection of varren meat delivered to us from Feros."

Ashley glanced at Patrick, but he shook his head, remembering the black-and-white creatures they would meet later on Feros and other planets. "I think I'll be okay with a drink. What do you recommend in that area?"

"The Serrice Ice Brandy," The waiter suggested without hesitation.

"I'll-" Patrick paused before realizing that the only money he had was a crumbled up five dollar bill in his pant's pocket and he was a hundred percent shore they didn't take that money. "Never mind. I'm a little short on money."

"It's okay, farmer, I'll pay," Ashley said, taking out a couple credits, "Two glasses of the Ice Brandy, please."

The waiter nodded and walked away.

"Listen, Ash," Patrick began, but Ashley held up her hand.

"Relax, farmer," Ashley grinned, "We're crew members now. We've got each others' back. Especially if Shepard is going to continue to leave us high and dry while he plays the hero."

"I'll pay you back," Patrick promised.

"I'm sure we can think of some way you can make it up to me," Ashley laughed as the waiter came over and handing them their glasses.

Patrick stared at the blue liquor before taking a small sip. It tasted like- like nothing on Earth and the closest thing Patrick could compare it to was rum which he only had once or twice. It smelled funny and hurt his nose, but Patrick followed Ashley's example and kept drinking.

A Turian and an Asari walked by, the Turian moving in a drunken fashion and nearly hitting their table. Ashley watched them and rolled her eyes, "Aliens. They cannot hold their liquor at all."

Patrick wasn't even listening to Ashley; his ears were trained on the two Aliens as they walked away.

"Did ya 'ere?" The Turian slurred in a gruff voice. "Scuttle says dare is a quarian on da Citadel."

"A quarian?" The Asari repeated, "We don't get many quarians here."

"Heard she got into some trouble with Fist," The Turian said.

"Fist?" The Asari shook her head, "That's bad news. Quarians don't know about the Shadow Broker. This could cause some problems for her."

"Didn't ya 'ere?" The Turian exclaimed, "Fist quit working for da Shadow Broker. Heard 'e joined up with Saren."

"Saren?" The Asari asked, "Isn't he that rogue Spectre?"

"Don't tell me you believe da 'umans' lies," The Turian growled. "Saren is a famous Spectre! It's makes much more sense for Saren to be telling da truth! Who would believe a bunch of stupid 'umans?"

Ashley rolled her eyes, "Humans aren't the problem."

Patrick wasn't even listening. He stood up immediately. "We've got to go."

"What?" Ashley asked, "Where?"

"Remember that quarian, Dr. Michel told us about?" Ashley nodded. "I think she may be in trouble."

Actually Patrick didn't think; he _knew._

"Farmer! Kid! Hamilton!" Ashley called as Patrick began to walk out of the bar. Ashley caught up to him and touched his arm, "Hey, why do you even think this quarian is in trouble? It's Shepard's job to go running off into probable danger. Not us. Shepard told us not to interfere."

"No I actually believe he told us to stay in the embassies," Patrick answered simply, walking deeper into the Wards and maneuvering through humans and aliens alike. "And we clearly disobeyed that order."

"Going to get a drink isn't as bad as running into danger with our weapons unsheathed," Ashley hissed, trying to stay in step with Patrick, "Do you want to get kicked off the Normandy? It was Shepard's decision to bring you on the ship and he can take it back. Not to mention I _like _serving under the Commander even if he annoys me sometimes. I'm not all that excited to enlist back underneath a different ship and get a bunch of crap assignments. With Shepard, I might actually be able to clear the Williams name."

"Then head towards the embassies, Ash," Patrick said, emerging from the crowds as he and Ashley walked in the Wards's many alleys. "I'm not forcing you to come with me."

"Yes, but if I show up with no brain damaged kid, Shepard will have my head. Besides," Ashley added, taking out her pistol, "You know me. I'm never one to run away from a fight."

_Hopefully there won't be a fight_, Patrick thought to himself, but he could clearly remember the three assassins that tried to kill Tali in the game.

As they walked down two flights of stairs, Patrick saw a figure pacing around, occasionally examining a keeper that stood by her. Even at a distance, Patrick knew that the figure was Tali.

As they moved slowly towards Tali, Patrick couldn't help, but stare at the quarian. Her environmental suit was a dark violet although that were some traces of a blue-green as she moved underneath the red light which was the on source of light in the alley. Patrick knew that quarians were more "human" than most of the aliens, but he was not expecting the short, thin figure who bent down beside the keeper, her orange omni-tool clashing with her cooler colored attire. Patrick wanted to know if the suit was rough like an itchy sweater for that was how it looked from where he was standing yet he wouldn't want to be in an uncomfortable suit for his entire life. That made Patrick wonder if the suit was softer than it appeared. **(A/N:** I know some people were curious about how I was going to describe Tali so hopefully that description was good enough for everyone.**)**

Tali stood up as Patrick and Ashley drew closer and she rested a hand on her pistol as walked to greet them. Patrick could see the faint outline of her eyes that were hidden by her mask and as they grew closer to one another, they seemed to shrink, leaving Patrick to think that she was narrowing her eyes at them.

They stared at each other for another moment before Tali asked, her mouthpiece flashing a bright blue as she spoke, "Are you with Fist?"

"No," Ashley said before Patrick could even open his mouth, "Are you the quarian that Dr. Michel mentioned?"

"I am Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and I did meet with a Dr. Michel," Tali said, "If you are not with Fist then what are you doing here?" Tali suddenly took a couple steps back, "Are you with Saren?"

"No," Patrick said, "The complete opposite. We work with Commander John Shepard and he is at odds with Saren."

"Quarians sometimes say that whoever is an enemy of my enemy is a friend," Tali said, reminding Patrick of a similar human saying, "I believe you, but I must ask, what are you doing here?"

"I don't honestly know," Ashley said, glancing at Patrick who said,

"You made a deal with Fist, correct? He agreed he would set you up to meet the Shadow Broker?"

"Yes," Tali's voice sounded quite surprised as Patrick displayed his knowledge of her actions on the Citadel.

"But no one knows the Shadow Broker," Ashley commented, her voice puzzled, "Not even his workers know who he is."

Tali took a couple steps back, "Fist lied?"

"Stupid humans," A voice growled and everyone turned to look at a turian who was strolling in front of two salarians. "Saren only wanted the quarian, but by talking to her, you merely condemned yourself."

Patrick and Ashley withdrew their weapons while Tali asked, her voice shaking, "I don't get it. Where's Fist?"

"Fist isn't coming," The turian growled before taking out his shotgun and pointing it right at Patrick whose hand shook terribly from fear.

Tali touched his shoulder and shouted, "Move!"

Patrick and Ashley both threw themselves against the other wall while Tali did a nice maneuver as she threw a mine at the turian and his partners. The salarians collapsed on the ground, but quickly pulled themselves up while the turian remained on his feet. "Nice little trick. However the odds are still even."

"How about now?" A voice shouted and everyone turned to see Shepard, Kaidan, and Garrus walking towards them, weapons drawn. The turian didn't even have time to stay anything before Patrick and the others took them out cleanly. Patrick even surprised himself with shooting one of the salarians in the head.

Everyone walked towards them and Shepard asked, "Is everyone alright?"

Ashley nodded and Patrick gestured towards Tali, "Commander, this is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Try saying that three times fast," Garrus growled, but Shepard shot him a look.

Kaidan looked at Tali and raised his eyebrows, "The quarian?"

"Who are you?" Tali asked.

"I'm Commander Shepard," Shepard said before gesturing at the rest of his team, "This is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, and Patrick Hamilton."

Tali glanced at Patrick, "Non-military?"

Patrick shrugged.

"Excuse me Tali'Zorah-" Shepard began.

"Just Tali," The quarian corrected.

"Tali," Shepard said, "Dr. Michel told us you might have some information that might have to do with the geth."

Tali nodded, "In thanks for saving me, I'll be pleased to show it to you."

"Commander, maybe we should do this in a more secure location," Garrus suggested.

Kaidan nodded, "What about the Ambassador's office?"

Shepard nodded, "You're right. He'll want to hear this too."

And with that Patrick followed Shepard and Tali back up to the Presidium.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

_Spectre_

"You aren't making my job easy, Shepard," Ambassador Udina growled as he stared out towards the spectacular view the Citadel held. Too bad it was wasted on the politician. "Firefights in the Wards? An all out assault on Chora's Den?"

Patrick shared a glance with Shepard who grinned. After being interrogated by Shepard as to why Patrick and Ashley weren't at the embassies- after everything Shepard confessed he just had to get everyone's stories straight when they went to visit Udina- the Commander, Kaidan, and Garrus retold their story about fighting in Chora's Den and then Shepard's kind action of letting Fist live. That was what had Shepard, Kaidan, and Garrus racing towards the Wards's alleys and arriving just in time to aid Tali and the others. What everyone really wanted to know was how Patrick knew Tali was going to need help. Patrick just said that ever since the Prothean Beacon incident he had been having a lot of strange feelings. Shepard and Garrus seemed to believe him, but Patrick noticed Kaidan giving him strange glances on their walk back to the Ambassador's office.

"Do you have any idea-" Udina turned around, his amber eyes widening when he saw Tali standing in between Shepard and Patrick, "Whose this? A quarian? What's going on here, Shepard?"

"She has information about the geth," Shepard answered simply.

"Geth?" Udina asked in surprise, "How did you acquire this information, Miss...?"

"Tali," Tali said, "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya and I acquired this information while on my Pilgrimage."

"Pilgrimage?" Shepard asked, "I've never heard of that."

"It's what all quarians do before they reach the age of majority," Tali explained, "Before we return to the Migrant Fleet, we must bring back something of value."

Shepard nodded while Kaidan said, "Go on."

"Well I was following some geth, my people created them so I was curious about how much they've evolved," Tali explained, "Anyway I killed one, but before it died I salvaged something from its audio banks."

"I thought geth fried their systems before they died," Captain Anderson said, "Some sort of defense mechanism."

"How we you able to acquire the memory?" Shepard asked.

"Since we created the geth, we know more about them than other species," Tali explained, "If you're quick and very careful some parts of a geth's memory can be saved."

Tali then took out her omni-tool and fooled around with it for a moment before sound game on:

"The attack on Eden Prime was a great success. The beacon has brought us closer to finding the Conduit."

"That's Saren's voice on the tape," Anderson grinned, "We've got him."

"The Council can't ignore this," Shepard nodded.

"Wait," Tali said, "There's more."

Tali touched her omni-tool once more and the tape replayed itself:

"The attack on Eden Prime was a great success. The beacon has brought us closer to finding the Conduit."

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

_Matriarch Benezia._

"I don't know that other voice," Udina said, "The one talking about the Reapers."

Patrick glanced at his feet as Shepard and Anderson's eyes snapped to him. Instantly Patrick regretted telling them about the Reapers. How was he supposed to explain everything now without revealing the truth?

"The Reapers?" Garrus whispered, "I've never heard of them."

"The geth believed that the Reapers were some sort of sentient race of ancient machines and Saren is the prophet for their return." Tali explained.

"That explains why the geth follow him," Garrus said.

"What about her," Ashley said, nodding towards Tali, "The quarian."

"I have a name," Tali snapped, "Shepard, you've seen what I could do. I'd be honored to assist you on your mission."

"What about your Pilgrimage?" Shepard asked.

"Our Pilgrimage proves that we are ready to give ourselves to aid the greater good," Tali said, walking to stand beside Patrick, "What do I say about myself if I turn my back on this?"

"Welcome aboard, Tali," Shepard said with a nod.

"Thank you, Commander," Tali said, "You won't regret this."

"We've got to show this to the Council," Udina said and Shepard nodded,

"Whatever else the Council might not believe, this at least proves that Saren is a traitor."

"Anderson, come with me," Udina said, "We'll prepare a meeting with the Council."

"Shepard, we'll see you there," Anderson said and the two men walked out of the office.

Shepard turned to his crew, "Alenko, take Williams, Garrus, and Tali to the Council Chambers. I want a few words with Hamilton."

Kaidan nodded and everyone turned around, leaving Patrick alone with Shepard. Patrick could feel his heart pounding and for once he had no idea what was going to happen.

"Alright, Hamilton, how did you know about the Reapers?" Shepard asked, crossing his arms as he stared at Patrick.

"I told you, Commander," Patrick said, trying to keep his voice calm and steady despite what he was feeling on the inside, "I had researched some knowledge about the Protheans before signing up to live on Eden Prime."

"Others have studied the Protheans, but no one has ever claimed a race of sentient machines to be the cause of their fall," Shepard said coolly, "What made you think the Reapers were behind everything?"

"Intuition," Patrick said with a shrug.

Shepard nodded, "I'm not forcing you to tell me, Hamilton. As long as it doesn't endanger anyone, keep your secret."

Patrick nodded and the two of them walked out of the office.

"By the way, Hamilton," Shepard said and Patrick felt his body tense up as he wondered what else the Commander would want to say, "Since you will be serving on the Normandy for the Alliance, the Lieutenant thinks that perhaps you should join the Alliance military."

"But I haven't had any training," Patrick relaxed, but was still very surprised. Kaidan had suggested that?

"Alenko said that he would help you train whenever there is downtime on the Normandy," Shepard explained, "I'm also sure Chief Williams wouldn't mind helping and even though Garrus isn't Alliance, he could still help."

"I'd be honored, Commander," Patrick said with a nod as the two of them walked towards the Council Chambers.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Patrick asked Shepard as the two of them headed upstairs in the elevator. Patrick already knew what was going to happen, but he was curious as to what Shepard was thinking about.

"Hopefully the Council will believe us," Shepard said, "There is too much evidence here and then Saren will probably be brought in to answer for his crimes. Although," Shepard paused, "I think he's long gone."

"You think he's hiding?" Patrick asked.

"Not really hiding," Shepard answered, "I think he is looking for the Conduit and I bet that is no where near the Citadel or else the Council would have found it centuries ago."

_Oh its very close, _Patrick thought to himself, knowing that when the Conduit was activated, the Reapers would pour into the Citadel in a matter of seconds. Hopefully Shepard would be able to save everyone like he did all the times Patrick played as him.

Patrick glanced at Shepard, but his mind suddenly felt very hazy and he felt himself cling onto the wall.

"Hamilton, you okay?" Shepard asked.

Patrick nodded, but watched as everything went spinning, a familiar sound roaring in his ears. Patrick closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths and soon everything calmed down. Patrick bent over gasping and he would bet his life that the nausea that he just experienced had something to do with the Prothean vision. After all, it was made for a very advanced mind like Shepard's. Patrick's mind could understand it, but it couldn't truly deal with like Shepard's could in the game. Or could it? Would Shepard be bent over in pain in this real version of the game? It wasn't in the final copy, but did the writers know how bad the vision would be?

"I think it was a side effect from the vision," Patrick whispered, "I'm fine really."

"Think you can faint again in front of the Council? It might help them believe that your vision really messed up your mind," Patrick glanced up at Shepard in bewilderment, but was surprised when the Commander was grinning, "I'm kidding, Hamilton."

Patrick smiled weakly, but still felt sick. The two of them left the elevator to find Kaidan and the others waiting for them.

"We thought you were never going to come," Kaidan grinned.

"You okay, farmer?" Ashley asked while Tali added,

"You look kind of pale."

"I'm fine," Patrick whispered, but then stood up straighter, "We should be going."

The whole motley crew walked towards the Council Chambers. There was the technical quarian who was on her Pilgrimage; the aggressive, but loyal turian who favored the free life of a Spectre over the strict life of a C-Sec Officer; the gunnery chief who was more skillful than anyone Patrick knew yet wouldn't ever really rise past her position due to her family; the lieutenant who was the most logical out of everyone, but could still unleash a powerful biotic kick; the commander who was a famed battle hero and would one day save the entire universe; and then there was Patrick: someone from a completely different world who had accidently changed the whole course of the game.

Needless to say, other than Shepard, they weren't the most average of heroes and they had yet to find Wrex or Liara.

"Come on, you six," Anderson said, "Udina is presenting Tali's evidence."

The seven of them all headed out just as Udina played Tali's evidence:

"The attack on Eden Prime was a major success. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"You wanted proof," Udina growled, "There it is."

"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador," The turian councilor said with a nod and Patrick sighed. At least one thing would turn out right. "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him in and answer for his crimes."

"I recognized the other voice, the one speaking to Saren," The Asari councilor said, "Matriarch Benezia."

"Who's she?" Shepard asked.

"Matriarchs are powerful Asari who have entered the final stage of their lives. Revered for their wisdom and their experience, they serve as guide and mentors to my people," The Asari councilor explained, "Matriarch Benezia is a very power Biotic and she had many followers. She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

"I'm more interested in the Reapers," The salarian councilor said, "What do you know about them?"

"Only what was extracted from the geth's memory core," Anderson explained, "The Reapers were an ancient race of sentient machines that wiped out the Protheans. Then they vanished."

"The geth believed the Reapers were gods," Shepard said, "And Saren is the prophet for their return."

"We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back," Anderson added, "Saren's searching for it. That's why he attacked Eden Prime."

"Do we even know what this Conduit is?" The salarian councilor asked.

"Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers," Shepard answered, "That's bad enough."

"Listen to what you're saying! Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy. Impossible! It has to be." The turian councilor growled. "Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? How come we've found no trace of their existence? If they were real, we'd have found something."

"I tried to warn you about Saren and you refused to see the truth," Shepard said, "Don't make the same mistake again."

"This is different," The Asari councilor said, "You proved Saren betrayed the Council. We all agree he's using the geth to search for the Conduit, we just don't really know why."

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth, Commander," The salarian councilor said, "A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will."

"Saren is a rogue Spectre on the run for his life," The turian councilor said, "He no longer has the rights or the resources of a Spectre. The Council has stripped him of his position."

"That's not good enough!" Udina shouted and for once Patrick agreed with him. "You know he is hiding somewhere out in the Traverse! Send your fleet in!"

"A fleet cannot track down one man," The salarian councilor said.

"A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region," Udina said, "Keep the geth from attacking anymore of our colonies."

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus systems!" The turian councilor growled, "We won't be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!"

"I cam take Saren down," Shepard suggested.

"The Commander's right," The Asari councilor said with a nod, "There is a way to stop Saren that doesn't require fleets or armies."

"No!" The turian councilor argued, "It's too soon! Humanity is not ready for the responsibility that comes with joining the Spectres!"

"I faced Saren on Eden Prime and then exposed him as a traitor," Shepard disagreed, "I've proven myself."

The three councilors all nodded and the Asari councilor waved Shepard forward, "Commander Shepard- step forward."

Shepard glanced at everyone and Patrick gave the Commander a supportive nod, knowing that Shepard joining the Spectres was exactly what humanity and the galaxy needed. Patrick glanced around and saw that several onlookers had appeared, all of them staring at Shepard and the Council. Patrick remembered this scene very clearly in the game and knew he was seeing it in a whole new light now.

The Asari councilor paused and then continued, "It's the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen," The salarian councilor said with a nod, "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol," The Asari councilor added, "The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

"Spectres bear a great burden," The turian councilor said, "They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander," The Asari councilor said with a small smile, nodding to Shepard, "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"I'm honored, Councilor," Shepard said with a nod.

"We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren," The salarian councilor said, "He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"I'll find him," Shepard promised.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," The Asari councilor said and Shepard turned to face everyone.

"Congratulations, Commander," Anderson said as he shook Shepard's hand.

"We've got a lot to do, Shepard," Udina said, stroking his face with his finger, "You're going to need a ship, crew, supplies."

"You'll get access to special equipment and training now," Anderson explained, "You should go down to the C-Sec Academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer."

"One more thing," Shepard said, nodding to Patrick and Kaidan to join him, "Lieutenant Alenko and I have been thinking that if Hamilton joins my team he should join as Alliance."

"I can vouch for him," Kaidan said, "He has proven himself greatly since we joined up on Eden Prime."

Ashley took a step forward as well, "He has a good aim and plenty of endurance."

"He hasn't had any training," Udina complained.

"We can train him," Shepard said, "Surely myself, Alenko, and Chief Williams are more than able than to train him."

"What about you, Hamilton?" Anderson asked, "You haven't said anything."

"I'd be honored to aid the Alliance," Patrick said with a nod, "And I'll be proud to train under Shepard and the others."

Anderson shared a glance with Udina who shrugged and looked away, "Very well, Hamilton. Normally these things would require more people to witness, but as Shepard said he, Alenko, and Williams are more than enough to supervise you."

Anderson paused, "The first rank of the Alliance is a Serviceman which is the title I now give you, Serviceman Patrick Hamilton."

Patrick shook Anderson's hand, "Thank you, Captain."

Udina then took a step forward, "Come on, Anderson. I'll need your help to pull this off."

Everyone watched him go until Shepard said, "Congratulations, Serviceman Hamilton."

Patrick grinned and shook Shepard's hand, "No congratulations to you, Spectre."

Ashley took a step forward and laughed, "I guess I can't call you farmer anymore, Serviceman."

Patrick grinned before turning to face Kaidan, "Thank you, Lieutenant. For offering to train me and all."

Kaidan smiled softly and shook Patrick's hand, "Anytime Hamilton. We're members of the same crew now. You're one of us."

And that made Patrick grin widen as he realized he was truly a part of the game now.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

_Udnot Wrex _

**Author's Note: **This chapter is going to show a lot of Patrick's thoughts so just prepared for that.

Patrick walked down the two flights of stairs that led down to C-Sec's headquarters, following Shepard's armed back, silver weapons darkening to black in the dim light. Ashley and Tali were in front of Patrick while Kaidan walked in step with the newly named Serviceman, Garrus bringing up the rear. Patrick could clearly hear the turian's clawed foot, scrape against the metal stairs, making a loud clanging sound although no one seemed to notice. Patrick, in attempt of blending in with his new crew (especially now since he was a part of the Alliance), remained silent even though the clashing of a metal boot and a metal stair gave him headaches similar to the ones caused by the Prothean vision. Patrick remembered how Lily, when she was younger, used to antagonize him by scraping together a fork and a knife.

_Funny how two different things from two different dimensions could have the same effect on me; _Patrick thought with a small grin before thinking of Lily brought a wave of nausea over him. Back in the "real world," Patrick loved leaving his family, but now, with no guarantee that he would ever see them again, he wanted to spend one more evening with his father. Had he known he was going to be taken miles upon miles away from William, Patrick wouldn't have spent their last few moments arguing.

"Williams, Hamilton," Shepard said suddenly, stopping in front of the elevator which would take them to the Normandy. Unknown to Shepard and the others, but very much known to Patrick, Anderson and Udina would be waiting up them, deciding that the Normandy would be transferred under Shepard's leadership. "I want to speak about to the Spectre Requisitions officer to see if he has any useful equipment for our mission. Alenko, Garrus, Tali, we'll see you up at the Normandy."

Patrick stared at Shepard as he told Kaidan and the others to wait on the Normandy. Did the Commander know that Anderson was going to give him the Normandy? When playing through the game for the first time, Patrick hadn't the slightest idea, but had _Shepard _known. Granted they were technically the same person when Patrick was in control of Shepard's body, but Patrick had no idea what his character was thinking. It was then that Patrick realized how much the writers of _Mass Effect _left out. They gave Shepard speech and movement, but they never really talked about his thoughts.

Patrick shook his head as he followed Shepard and Ashley towards the Spectre Requisitions office, smiling softly as he realized he was thinking _way _too much. After all, the makers of _Mass Effect _didn't even know that their virtual world was a real place. How were they supposed to know that one day one of their gamers might be transported into their game? Or did they actually know?

Patrick's thoughts turned in a whole new direction. Had the creators of _Mass Effect _actually journey to this alternative dimension? Is that what inspired the game? Patrick wished that he knew the names of the creators so he could ask Shepard or anyone if they ever heard of them. The thought comforted Patrick slightly. If the makers of _Mass Effect _did journey to the game they would one day create then it was solid proof that there was some way to journey between the two worlds. They had accidentally found a way into a game and they had- probably again accidentally- found a way home.

"Hamilton? Hamilton?" Patrick felt someone shake him and blinked his eyes rapidly, clearing his mind of any lingering thoughts. He glanced at Shepard and Ashley, who were staring at him with confused eyes, and it was then that Patrick realized they had probably asked him a question that he had clearly missed. "Are you okay?"

Patrick nodded, "Sorry. The Prothean vision keeps flashing in my mind."

That wasn't a complete lie. Patrick couldn't get the Prothean vision out of his mind, it was stamped into his mind and it was brought to the front of his thoughts randomly. Patrick wondered if his lack of control over the vision was due to the fact that his mind wasn't as strong as Shepard's. Or did Shepard have problems similar to the ones that Patrick was experiencing? Another question for the makers, Patrick realized. He would have to try and meet up with them if- when he got home.

"You should get some sleep once we are aboard whatever ship Anderson and Udina have chosen for us," Shepard said, still glancing at Patrick curiously as though he didn't believe him, "And that's an order, Serviceman Hamilton."

Patrick nodded and murmured, "Yes sir."

Shepard stared at Patrick for another moment before continuing their walk, Ashley falling in step beside Patrick.

"You sure you okay, farmer?" Ashley asked.

"I thought you weren't going to call me 'farmer' anymore," Patrick said with a grin.

Ashley smiled, clearly taking his humor as a sign that he was fine. As they walked through a door, Patrick wondered if maybe he should confess his secret to one of the crew members. Kaidan already seemed like he suspected Patrick of something and Patrick wondered if he should just confront the lieutenant about it. Or what about Shepard? Patrick remembered that _his _Shepard had followed the Paragon path and had always tried to help everyone. Was this Shepard more Paragon? Or more Renegade? Patrick didn't want to test it out and get himself kicked off the Normandy.

There was always Ashley. Patrick cast a swift glance at his closest friend. Out of everyone he had met so far, Ashley had been the first one to accept him, but would she change her mind when she realized that he wasn't from the same dimension as her? Patrick didn't to lose his only ally. Patrick thought about the aliens: Garrus and Tali. Garrus loathed the rules so maybe he would be the best person to confide in? Then again he was a turian and turians were known for their aggressive nature. Maybe telling one of the most violent species wasn't the best idea. That only left Tali and Patrick didn't know her well enough. Maybe in time, she would be the one he confided in. There was always Wrex and Liara who had yet to join the team. Patrick decided that he wouldn't tell anyone until he got a chance to know everyone and decide who would be the best option.

They walked through the last set of doors where a turian was sitting, obviously communicating with someone on his computer for he kept nodding and muttering "sure." After a couple moments of being unnoticed, Shepard gave a quiet cough and the turian glanced up, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Excuse me."

The turian typed something on his computer before asking in a bored tone, "Can I help you?"

"I'm Commander Shepard," Shepard introduced himself; "I was told I could pick up some new equipment here."

"Of course," The turian nodded and typed a couple things before stopping, his black eyes widening, "Er... There must be some mistake. The computers are telling me to give you access to our special selection… Spectre?"

Shepard nodded, "I was made a Spectre just a couple hours ago."

"I heard something about that, but still I didn't realize it was you," The turian pressed a button and glanced up at Shepard, "There you go Commander. All of our private stocks have been open to you."

"Thank you," Shepard said with a nod before walking over to where some of the finer merchandise was on display, leaving Patrick and Ashley to walk around.

Patrick reached over to touch an assault rifle, but the turian barked, "Don't touch that rifle. It costs more than your life."

Patrick withdrew his hand and instead just stood quietly beside Ashley who was examining a shotgun. Unlike Patrick, she knew not to touch and instead her amber eyes just moved across the silver metal with an interested expression.

Patrick turned to see Shepard holding a pistol and aiming it briefly before nodding.

"This will do nicely," Shepard said, handing the turian some credits before waving Patrick and Ashley over, "Come on you too. Let's meet up with Anderson and Udina."

Patrick and Ashley nodded before following Shepard out of the office and towards the elevator. Patrick's eyes drifted towards a violet armored Krogan and he grinned to himself: _Wrex._

As they were about to enter the elevator, Wrex stepped in front of them, "Human! You the one they call Shepard?"

Shepard's blue eyes narrowed, but he nodded, "Commander Shepard. Who wants to know?"

"Udnot Wrex. The Shadow Broker paid me a lot of money to get rid of Fist only you got their first," Wrex growled, taking a step forward and pushing Shepard back a couple steps, "When I get paid to do I job, I finish it by myself."

Patrick felt his hand twitch towards his side where his pistol was holstered. He didn't remember Wrex being so violent in the game. Patrick glanced at Ashley and muttered, "I don't like where this is going."

"But I didn't take out Fist, you did," Wrex said, pointing at Shepard with a clawed hand, "So the payment is yours."

Patrick shared a glance with Shepard and then with Ashley. Even Patrick who had mastered this game had no idea that Wrex was going to offer them his pay. Apparently Shepard was just as skeptical for he asked, "Why would you pay me for doing your job?"

"I won't take credit for someone else's work," Wrex explained with a shrug, "The payment is yours."

Shepard still seemed suspicious, but he nodded, "Thanks."

"Now I here your going after Saren," Wrex growled, "I was thinking I better come with you."

"What do you get out of going after Saren?" Shepard asked.

"There's a storm coming and you and Saren are right in the middle of it," Wrex growled, moving his hands as he spoke, "I want to be where the action is."

Shepard shared a glance with Ashley who nodded before turning back to Wrex, "Welcome aboard, Wrex. You can join Chief Williams, Serviceman Hamilton, and I on our way to see Captain Anderson."

"Anderson?" Wrex growled, "I know that name. Some kind of big Alliance hero right?"

Shepard nodded and Wrex shrugged, "Never liked the Alliance or humans for that matter, but if working with them leads to a good fight then you can call me a human supporter."

"You don't like humans?" Ashley asked her tone suspicious. Patrick remembered that she didn't like aliens.

"Haven't been around enough to really judge them," Wrex growled with a shrug, "When I form an opinion, I'll tell you." Wrex paused, "Or I might just shoot you." Patrick felt his own heartbeat quicken and Wrex must have heard it or something because he added, "Kidding."

"Should we go?" Patrick asked Shepard, "We've kept the Captain waiting long enough."

In truth, Patrick wanted to be out of the atmosphere they were in now where Ashley and Wrex were glaring at each other. If Wrex continued to show his displeasure of humans, there was going to be a confrontation. For some reason, Patrick thoughts drifted toward his father and older brother. William and Holden used to argue all the time about Holden's career. Instead of following the army path like William and another Hamilton boy, Joseph, Holden had become a doctor. Patrick's eyes closed slightly and he thought he could hear William's thunderous roar as he shouted at his son.

Shepard nodded, snapping Patrick's thoughts away from his father and brother, "You're right, Hamilton. Come on. You two will have plenty of time to fight as we chase Saren God knows where."

As they rode up in the elevator, an awkward silence settled over the group.

Wrex was cracking his knuckles.

Ashley had taken out her shotgun and was stroking it, amber eyes glancing at Wrex.

Like Shepard, Patrick was trying to avoid the awkward air that hung around them yet he knew things were only probably going to get worse before they got better. If everything happened like before, Ashley and Wrex would be standing only a couple feet from each other. Thinking about where everyone was positioned, Patrick wondered where he would be positioned. The ship wasn't huge and there was a giant crew. Patrick guessed he would just sit in the mess with other members of the crew.

The doors slid open almost painfully slow and the four of them hurried out to where Anderson and Udina were standing, their arms crossed. Udina was the first one to talk, but it was only a comment, "You're late."

"Better late than never," Ashley said simply, her mood still sour about the arrival of Wrex.

"Who's this?" Anderson asked, nodding towards Wrex.

"Udnot Wrex," Wrex growled, "I'm serving under Shepard."

"This is something you should have run by us, Shepard," Udina snapped, but before anything else was said, Anderson spoke,

"He's a Spectre now, Ambassador. He doesn't have to report to us."

Udina nodded and said, "Well good news, Shepard. We've found you a ship. Captain Anderson is stepping down from captain of the Normandy, leaving it to you."

Shepard glanced at Anderson, "This isn't right. The Normandy belongs to you."

Anderson shook his head, smiling softly although there was a pained expression in his eyes, "Not anymore. You need her more than I do. She's fast and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre."

"Thank you," Shepard said, "I'll take good care of her."

Udina nodded, but said nothing so Shepard added, "Any leads on Saren?"

"Saren is gone. Don't even bother going after him," Anderson said with a shake of his head, "But we have found areas where geth have reportedly been seen. Noveria has sent word of geth sightings."

"Our colony on Feros as well has report geth attacks," Udina added.

Shepard nodded, "Anything else?"

"One more thing," Anderson said. "Remember Matriarch Benezia? Well she has a daughter. A scientist who studies the Protheans. She might know something. Reports say she was at a Prothean dig site on Therum."

"She might be the best place to start," Shepard said with a curt nod before glancing at Patrick, Ashley, and Wrex, "Looks like we should head to Therum."

"It's your decision," Anderson said, "You don't answer to us anymore."

"But remember your decisions still reflect humanity as a whole," Udina added, "Whatever you do comes back to me so please try and not cause any huge explosions."

"I'll try not to," Shepard said simply.

"Good," Udina said with nod, "Remember you were a human long before you were a Spectre. Now if you don't mind, I have somewhere to be. Captain Anderson can answer any questions you might have."

Patrick watched Udina leave before everyone turned to Shepard who asked, "Captain Anderson, how are you doing?"

Anderson shrugged, "Tell you the truth, Shepard; this isn't how I pictured my career coming to an end. Pushing papers isn't really my thing, but you need the Normandy more than I do."

"Thank you, old friend," Shepard said, shaking Anderson's hand while everyone else saluted him.

Anderson nodded, "Take care everyone."

Patrick nodded and followed Shepard to the Normandy and to the first few steps in their hunt for Saren.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

_Therum _

**Author's Note: **Just so everyone is aware this chapter will not be canon to the games. Shepard will go and recruit Liara while Patrick and whoever remains behind stays on the ship. I have yet to think of what will happen so this chapter is written without any plans… hopefully it makes for a good read.

The Normandy was completely unlike anything Patrick had ever seen because of the machinery and the crew. Joker was probably the funniest fucking man, Patrick had ever met and as they had left Citadel, Joker's skills as a pilot matched his humor. There was also Navigator Pressly who seemed very serious about his job and Engineer Adams who Patrick had only spoken with briefly as Shepard guided him, Garrus, Wrex, and Tali around the ship. Pressly didn't seem to trust the aliens, but welcomed Patrick with open arms- so to speak. Dr. Chakwas, who Patrick already knew, had wasted no time to inquire if the Serviceman had had any more visions caused by the Prothean beacon. Patrick said 'no,' but admitted that it continued to play in his head, sometimes outside of his control. There was also the Alliance member, Jacob Walters, who resided at the bottom hull of the ship and Shepard had explained that Walters sold equipment for the Normandy crew. Wrex had complained that since they were crew it should be free, but Patrick understood why Walters charged things. Everyone had to make a living and since Walters wasn't a fighter, his only income was from his sales. (**A/N: **I don't know if the salesman on the Normandy had a name so I just gave him a random one.)

Out of all the places on the Normandy, Patrick chose to hang around the mess where other crew members dined and shared past adventures. Patrick found this place the most interesting because of the crew members that had invited him to join them- in the _Mass Effect _game they had been nothing more than nameless faces.

There were two Corporals who usually hung around the mess: Sam Jackson, a muscular blonde who had been born to a strict Alliance family, and Olivia Carter, the only girl Patrick knew who could drink more than she weighed- or so she said. Tim Carter, Olivia's younger brother, was a Serviceman like Patrick and always questioned Patrick about where he trained or other things that Patrick couldn't quite answer. He knew he was making Tim suspicious of him, but it was just another name added to the list. Kaidan sometimes stared at him as though he suspected Patrick's secret and Patrick had sworn he heard his name mentioned when the lieutenant talked to Shepard when they first boarded the Normandy.

"Honestly, Carter," Jackson was saying as he rolled his eyes at Carter, placing his cup on the mess's table. The cup was filled with water. Shepard had declared that there were to be no alcoholic drinks on board when the crew was on duty. This had raised a lot of angry mutters although no one dared to show their displeasure to Shepard's face. "I don't see what the big deal is. So what if you have to work with a couple of aliens? _They _should be the ones feeling awkward. _They _are the ones aboard the biggest fucking ship in the Alliance fleet with a bunch of humans."

"My father died in the war with the turians," Carter said simply, glaring at Jackson with sharp amber eyes. "I was fourteen. You sure as hell right I got a problem with the aliens." Carter paused and then added, "I don't mind the quarian, but the turian and the Krogan shouldn't be here. The turian is part of a mission that involves hunting down and killing another turian so he can't be trusted and the Krogan is just a time bomb. Mark my words that Krogan will turn on us eventually whether it will be on Therum or on some sunny beach planet in the Traverse."

"You're crazy," Jackson snapped before turning his attention to Patrick, "What says you Hamilton? Do ya trust the aliens?"

"I would trust any of them with my life," Patrick answered simply before standing up, his legs half asleep from sitting down for so long and listening to Jackson and Carter argue non-stop. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to stretch my legs."

Patrick bid them goodbye before heading towards the elevator and taking it down a floor, thinking about asking either Garrus or Wrex to talk about some of their most memorable adventures. Garrus was pleased to talk about the strict boundaries that C-Sec had while Wrex pretended to be annoyed whenever Patrick asked him about his past, but his black eyes seemed to glow as he told about crushing a turian's skull or snipping off the head of a Salarian. Some of his stories made Patrick wish he could pour bleach in his mind and forget all the gruesome details, but other tales of adventure never ceased to amaze him.

As the elevator doors slid open, Patrick decided that talking to Tali, the only one out of the aliens who he had not talked to in their brief flight towards Therum, would be the most beneficiary. After all, there would be plenty of other times to talk to Garrus and Wrex and hear the stories of their past adventures. Patrick knew he wouldn't be disturbing Shepard since the Commander had requested Kaidan to come to his room and the two of them had been in there for the past half hour. What they were talking about Patrick had no idea, but he prayed to whoever was watching him- after being zapped into a video game he no longer denied the existence of a god- that they weren't talking about him. He loved being a part of Shepard's crew, but he didn't want anyone talking about him behind his back. What if someone was to get suspicious?

Patrick walked off the elevator, grinning at Ashley who was cleaning some rifles and giving Garrus and Wrex a curt nod. Garrus returned the nod before examining the Normandy's Mako while Wrex just grumbled something and resumed his post glaring at anyone who dared approach him. Patrick walked towards the core that glowed blue in the dim light of the hull and nodded towards Adams before approaching Tali who glanced up at him. Whether she was looking at him or not, Patrick didn't know. All he could see were two blue orbs that were her eyes.

"Serviceman Hamilton," Tali said with a polite nod of the head, "What can I do for you?"

"Call me Patrick," Patrick said with a smile.

"Alright Patrick," Tali said before repeating, "What can I do for you?"

Patrick shrugged, "I'm just trying to get to know everyone."

Tali nodded, "I know. I heard you talking with Garrus and Wrex."

Tali paused and then added, "You're the only member of the crew other than Shepard and Engineer Adams who has talked to me. I don't think the rest of the crew trusts me."

Patrick shrugged, "I trust you. Shepard trusts you. The rest of the crew just doesn't know you yet. Give them time. After all, would the Migrant Fleet be so open to strangers?"

"I guess not," Tali sighed, "You're the only human who has ever openly talked to me about the Migrant Fleet, you know?"

"What's it like?" Patrick inquired. The quarians were probably the most mysterious out of all the species to Patrick for they were the ones he knew the least about. He knew that Krogan had the genophage unleashed onto them by the Salarians and that the Asari was the first race to discover the Citadel and sit on the Council. All he knew about the quarians was that they created the geth and he knew they had a history much more than creating a race of sentient machines that would stop at nothing from destroying humans.

"The Migrant Fleet?" Tali asked, "Our ships are much different than the Normandy. Our ships are old and have mismatched parts."

"Mismatched parts?" Patrick asked, "Wouldn't that cause the ships to malfunction?"

Tali shrugged, "Sometimes, but sometimes they are just what we need. We don't really expect much. It's how we are raised. We don't expect to live on classy ships." Tali then laughed before adding, "Ask me about a week ago if I thought I would be on the most advanced ship in the Alliance fleet and I would have said you were crazy."

"You really like ships?" Patrick observed.

"It comes with being a quarian," Tali said simply and Patrick imagined her smiling at that. Despite the hardships that the quarians faced, Tali was still proud about her species.

"I'm not much of a ship person myself," Patrick said with a smile, "Too complex for my tiny human mind."

Tali laughed, "At least you can fight."

Patrick shrugged, "I'll get better with practice."

"Then what are you good at?" Tali asked.

"Talking I guess," Patrick grinned, remembering his brief schooling as a lawyer. He was a charismatic person at heart, not like Shepard, but as a practicing lawyer he had always done well in court. He had loathed all the paperwork though.

Tali nodded and seemed to be on the verge of saying something else when Shepard's voice was heard overhead,

"We're approaching Therum is ETA ten minutes. Garrus, Wrex, suit up. Let's pay Doctor T'Soni a visit."

Patrick excused himself and headed towards the elevator; surprised that Ashley was there, holding it open for him. She grinned at him and asked, "Want to see the planet's surface?"

"Not much to see," Wrex growled as he and Garrus squeezed on the elevator beside the two humans, "Just rock and more rock."

"And lava," Garrus added as he reloaded his sniper rifle before looking into it and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Have you two ever been to Therum?" Patrick asked, glancing at Ashley who was staring at the floor, amber eyes narrowed. Patrick knew better than anyone how much Ashley loathed aliens.

"No, but I've seen vids of it while on C-Sec," Garrus said, "Not really in our jurisdiction, but our bosses wanted us to know about distant planets in Citadel space."

Patrick turned to Wrex who nodded and growled, "Once. Took out an old turian general who pissed off a couple wealthy batarians. As a mercenary, you see every planet this goddamn galaxy has to offer."

Patrick nodded and the elevator doors slid open to reveal Shepard talking with Kaidan and Navigator Pressly before turning to the new arrivals, the lieutenant right behind him. "I do believe I only requested Garrus and Wrex, but I'm glad you are up here, Chief. You too, Hamilton."

Patrick shared a glance with Ashley, glad to see he wasn't the only one confused.

Shepard seemed to sense their puzzlement because he explained, "While Garrus, Wrex, and myself attempt to locate Dr. T'Soni, Alenko offered to take you out for a little combat training. Williams, I'm sure you will be able to help him. You have more than proven yourself since arriving on the Normandy."

Ashley seemed surprised by Shepard's praise, but she merely nodded calmly and said, "Thank you, skipper."

Patrick glanced away, unable to hide the knowing smirk that was dancing on his lips. While Liara had always been a good ally to Shepard, in Patrick's games at least, Patrick had always chosen Ashley as the romance option. Patrick wondered if this Shepard would be more like his own.

Or was this a Renegade Shepard?

Patrick couldn't further this thought because Shepard had begun to lead them out of the ship and onto Therum's surface. Patrick realized he had missed the end of whatever Shepard had been saying, but all thoughts of disappointment left his mind as he took in Therum with wide blue eyes.

This was the first true alien planet Patrick had seen. Eden Prime resembled Earth- all except for the swarms of Geth- and the Citadel was just like an Earth city. Therum was something completely different: the red rock was soft underneath Patrick's boot and when he shoved his heel roughly onto it, a couple red particles floated around his ankle. The sky was a scarlet red and as Patrick leaned over some rocks, he was saw lava bubbling and snarling as it flowed over rock. Needless to say, Therum wasn't a paradise.

"Hey, you want to be burnt to a crisp?" Patrick felt Wrex shove him away from the rock, growling, 'Don't be so curious." Wrex gave him a glare before snorting, "_Human._"

"Easy you two," Shepard snapped, "Garrus, Wrex, let's get going. Alenko, Williams, see if you can get Hamilton to use a shotgun without blowing someone's head off."

Wrex snorted and Patrick glanced at the Krogan, realizing that for some reason unknown the alien wasn't fond of him. Patrick shrugged and glanced away. As long as he stayed out of Wrex's hair- or scales, Patrick shouldn't have to worry about the Krogan taking a shot at him. At least not while Shepard was around.

Patrick watched as Shepard hopped into the Mako with Garrus and Wrex, leaving the three humans standing underneath the Normandy's shadow. They stood in silence for a moment before Kaidan turned to Patrick and asked, "You ready?"

"For what exactly?" Patrick asked.

"Combat training," Kaidan answered simply, "Pistols are good if you are in close combat, but you can't rely on them all the time."

Patrick stared into Kaidan's brown eyes, "You use a pistol most of the time."

Ashley laughed, "He's got you there, LT."

"Yes, but I have biotics to back me up," Kaidan said simply, "Unless you aren't telling us something, Hamilton, you don't have that luxury so weapon training it is."

"Here," Kaidan continued, taking his shotgun out of its holster and giving it to Patrick whose arms bent as he felt the weight of the weapon. A shotgun was very different than a pistol and Kaidan seemed to sense this because he asked, raising an eyebrow, "You okay there, Hamilton?"

Patrick nodded and Kaidan scanned the area around them before noticing someone, giving whoever it was a curt nod. Patrick turned to see Tali, walking towards them; long fingers kneading together nervously as she explained, "I heard Navigator Pressley and Engineer Adams talking about showing Serviceman Hamilton some battle training. There is only so much you can look at on a ship and I thought- well I was hoping that…" Tali's voice trailed off.

"You can stay and watch," Patrick offered simply, "If the lieutenant doesn't have a problem with it, of course."

"If you won't get distracted," Kaidan said, nodding at the shotgun that Patrick's fingers were still curled around, "An inexperienced soldier wielding a shotgun could have dangerous results. In fact, we should be asking _Tali _if she's sure she wants to be around _you._"

"It's okay," Tali said simply, "Even on the flotilla, you meet inexperienced quarians. It's a lot more dangerous there since we are all held up in such a confined space."

"Don't you ever leave the flotilla?" Patrick inquired, generally curious. The Migrant Fleet and the quarians who resided there had always interested Patrick and he wondered if one day, he might be able to visit the group of ships that the quarians called home. Shepard hadn't in the game, but Patrick wondered if by accidentally joining his crew, they would be forced to visit the Migrant Fleet.

"Only on our Pilgrimage," Tali explained, her voice sounding generally happy and Patrick wondered if anyone other than Shepard and himself had asked the quarian about her life in the Migrant Fleet. Despite not being a part of their world, Patrick remembered everyone saying about how quarians were mysterious… unknown.

"Are we going to sit here talking or are we going to actually follow the Commander's orders?" Surprisingly this order didn't come from Kaidan, but from Ashley whose voice had an unusual edge to it. Patrick turned away, unable to hide his smirk. That sounded more like the Ashley, he knew from the game.

Kaidan nodded, "Okay, Hamilton, I want you to aim at…" Kaidan's voice trailed off as he realized there was nothing really around them… well except for the Normandy and even Patrick knew that Joker wouldn't be grateful if they started shooting up his baby.

"Rock?" Patrick offered and Kaidan shrugged,

"There's nothing else. I would prefer if you tried to shoot at something moving."

"You can stand in front of him, LT?" Ashley suggested and Kaidan shook his head,

"After the kid gets more practice maybe." Kaidan then glanced at Patrick and nodded, "Okay fire away. Aim at that rock over there." Kaidan waved towards a pile of stone and Patrick glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

"I haven't the slightest idea as to what you pointed to, but okay," Patrick said, aiming at some rock and pulling the trigger.

Everyone was surprised at what happened next.

Kaidan shook his head in disappointment.

Ashley laughed out loud although she tried to hide it behind a hand.

Tali bent down beside Patrick who had been thrown backwards due to the force of the shot, landing on his back.

"Are you okay, Serviceman?" Tali asked.

Patrick laid there for a couple more seconds.

_Okay that hurt, _Patrick thought to himself. _Great my first injury during this mission wasn't from Saren _or _the Geth. No. I had to get taken out by a shotgun._

Patrick pushed himself up, his shoulders aching slightly. The ground was much harder than it appeared at first glance.

"I'm fine," Patrick said, taking Tali's hand as she helped him up, "That thing has quite a kick."

Patrick tried to laugh and only Ashley joined him. The Chief walked towards the shotgun where Patrick had thrown it in his fit and laughed, "I guess the shotgun is out, right LT?"

"I'm almost scared to give you an assault rifle," Kaidan said, shaking his head slightly.

"Here," Ashley said, giving Patrick her sniper rifle, "Maybe heavier weapons aren't really your specialty. You're pretty deadly when it comes to a pistol so maybe you will be able to use a sniper."

Patrick took it, surprised that a weapon much larger than a shotgun was so much lighter. He placed it on his shoulder before glancing at Kaidan, "Okay, lieutenant, what do you want me to take out?"

Kaidan glanced towards Patrick and then towards a pile of rocks, nodding at a small one on top of a boulder. "See that small one? See if you can knock it off the larger one."

Patrick nodded and glanced through the lens of the sniper, surprised at how the world seemed to shake as he tried to steady his hand. Normally he was very calm around other people, it had helped during his brief practice as a lawyer, but he was very aware that everyone was staring at him. Kaidan was probably already looking at him with a disappointed glint in his amber eyes; Ashley was probably hoping that he would do better than before; Tali… who knew what the quarian was thinking behind her mask? Patrick had always found strength when he looked into the eyes of whoever he was talking to. He couldn't do that with Tali and wondered if that was why he felt so uncomfortable around the quarian.

Patrick finally got his hand to stop shaking and fired his first shot, unable to hide his grin as the rock practically jumped off the boulder. He removed his face from the lens and turned to look at his allies.

Kaidan nodded and Ashley gave him a thumbs up. Tali was the first person to talk,

"Good shot, Serviceman."

"I think he's found his two skills," Ashley added with a grin, "Don't you agree, LT?"

Kaidan nodded, "You can have my sniper, Hamilton. I've always preferred biotics and pistols to actually taking the time to aim down my enemy." Kaidan paused and then added, "Shepard will be pleased too. He has never been one for patience. He prefers to take things head on."

"How long have you been serving under the Commander?" Patrick asked.

"A couple months," Kaidan answered, sitting down on a rock and everyone followed in suit, "Not that long at all. I was assigned to the Normandy two missions before we went to Eden Prime."

"Do you like serving underneath him?" Patrick asked curiously.

"Beats doing paperwork for the Ambassador," Kaidan said and then his lips curved into a small smile, the first smile Patrick had seen the lieutenant give anyone.

"So what about you, Hamilton?" Kaidan asked, "Do you like serving under Shepard?"

_Yes. I've played as him for so long that it's like a dream come true._

_No. What if I ruin the plot of the game? After all, Shepard was supposed to receive the vision. Not me._

But Patrick couldn't say either of those things so he merely nodded and grinned, "Beats being a farmer."

Ashley then glanced at him, "You know whats funny? I met a lot of farmers on Eden Prime, but I just can't remember you. It was like you just showed up out of nowhere during that fight."

Patrick could feel Kaidan's eyes on him so he said simply, "Eden Prime's a big planet."

Ashley nodded, "That it is." She then sighed, "I can't believe all those people died. I've never seen so many dead civilians."

Patrick grunted in agreement, glad that their topic was moving on. He wasn't positive, but every time Kaidan looked at him, he had a sinking feeling that the lieutenant knew something about him.

Before anyone could say anything, the Normandy's airlock doors slid open and Navigator Pressly came running out, the sight of him propelling everyone to their feet, "Get in the ship, all of you!"

"Pressly, what's going on?" Ashley asked.

"Our genius of a Commander may have accidentally collapsed a whole bunch of Prothean ruins," Pressly grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "Now come on. Shepard made it quite clear that he wanted Joker there as soon as possible."

Everyone followed Pressly onto the ship and immediately headed towards the cockpit, not even bothering to take off their armor or remove their weapons.

"What's going on, Joker?" Ashley asked, "Is Shepard okay?"

"He should be," Joker said as the Normandy lifted into the air and headed towards another part of Therum.

"What's that?" Tali said and Patrick joined her as the two of them stared out one of the Normandy's many windows. There was a white shape, stuck in between two rock formations.

It took Patrick a moment, but he realized what it was.

"Joker," Patrick exclaimed, "It's the Mako!"

"Shit Commander," Joker said with a roll of his eyes, "Why can't you leave anything close to you?"

"Get me low enough and I'll get in the Mako," Kaidan said, "I'll meet you at the landing zone after you pick up the Commander."

"I'm sorry, Alenko, but Shepard would have my skin if I sent you alone," Joker said with a shake of his head, "Especially since we know there are geth here."

"The Commander probably cleared them out," Kaidan argued.

"I'll go with the lieutenant," Patrick offered, surprising even himself.

"Can you drive a Mako?" Kaidan asked.

"Er… no," Patrick said with a small smile, "But I can cover you."

Kaidan glanced at Joker, "Good enough for you?"

Joker sighed, "Okay. I'm going to take us down fast so be ready."

Patrick and Kaidan nodded and headed the airlock, bracing themselves against the wall as Joker dropped them down nearly a hundred feet in two seconds. Kaidan glanced at Patrick, "Ever jump out of a ship before, Hamilton?"

"No," Patrick grinned, "But there's a first time for every time."

"_Okay, you two. I'm opening the airlock doors. Be prepared to jump._" Joker's voice sounded from over head and sure enough the airlock doors slid open.

Without even thinking about what he was doing, Patrick followed Kaidan's lead and stepped out of the plane, nothing catching him.

The sense of freefall only lasted for about ten seconds before Patrick felt solid ground underneath his feet, but his stomach had still lurched slightly. Patrick could feel his face pale and focused on the Mako in hopes of avoiding Kaidan.

"Okay, Hamilton," Kaidan said, "Let's get in."

Patrick obeyed and awkwardly climbed into the Mako, sitting down in the copilot's chair while Kaidan got behind the wheel. "Hold on, Hamilton. This might get a little rocky."

Patrick braced himself and Kaidan hit the gas, propelling the Mako forward. Patrick clung to his seat, closing his eyes slightly. He had gone racing before, with friends from high school, but even the fastest car Patrick knew couldn't compare to the speed of the Mako as it roared, heading towards the landing zone where moments before Patrick had been practicing shooting with Kaidan and the others. It was odd. In Patrick's eyes, that moment with his new friends had felt like hours ago.

As they approached the landing site, the Normandy was already there, hovering over the ground. Patrick wondered how Kaidan was going to get them aboard when the lieutenant hit a button, causing the Mako to fly briefly and roll roughly into the Normandy's garage. Patrick felt himself lurch out of the seat and onto the floor, wondering how many times he would fall before the day was over.

Kaidan seemed to be thinking the same thing because he laughed, his laugh low and rough, "You okay, Hamilton? It seems like you are taking quite a beating today."

"I'm fine," Patrick answered as the two of them climbed out of the Mako, Engineer Adams waiting outside for them.

"The Commander has asked everyone to meet in the debriefing room," Adams said simply before walking back to his post.

"That was short," Patrick observed.

"Adams has never been much of a talker," Kaidan explained, "Come on. We best not keep Shepard waiting."

The two of them headed up in the elevator and within two minutes were standing in front of Shepard who had just finished introducing Liara to Ashley and Tali.

Shepard turned as Patrick and Kaidan walked in before turning back to Liara and explaining, "These two fine gentlemen are Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Serviceman Patrick Hamilton. Alenko, Hamilton, this is Dr. Liara T'Soni."

Kaidan nodded at Liara and Patrick stepped forward to shake the Asari's hand. Her grip was smooth and completely alien, but he liked it. No human hand could be as soft… no matter how much lotion they used.

"I was just telling Liara about your vision, Hamilton," Shepard explained, "And about the Reapers."

"I'm a Prothean expert," Liara explained unnecessarily, but Patrick listened patiently. After all, how was she to know that he already knew exactly who she was? "That's what I was doing on Therum."

"Consider me your test subject," Patrick said with a grin before realizing what he said. True in the game Liara had joked with Shepard about him being a test subject, but this Liara just looked confused. "Wait that didn't come out right."

Liara nodded, "I'll enjoy talking with you, Serviceman Hamilton."

"Call me Patrick," Patrick said simply.

"Okay… Patrick," Liara said before turning back to Shepard, "Commander, if it's alright with you, I'd like to rest for a little bit."

Shepard nodded, "Take all the time you need, Liara. We'll take later. The rest of you, dismissed."

Patrick left, walking with the others down to the mess where they all took a seat.

"So what was Therum like?" Patrick instantly asked, once everyone was sitting down.

"Rock, rock, and more rock," Wrex growled simply while Garrus added,

"The Prothean ruin _was_ interesting."

"You're interested in the Protheans?" Patrick asked surprised. He didn't know Garrus even knew anything about the Protheans.

"A little, not as much as the Doctor," Garrus said simply.

"Speaking of the Doctor," Wrex added, "She thought we were a hallucination. It was quite amusing to see an Asari so lost."

"She's a child," Tali said.

Kaidan glanced at Tali and asked, "How old is she?"

"One hundred and six," Tali answered and Kaidan blinked in surprised,

"I wouldn't consider _that _a child."

"It is. In Asari years," Wrex growled, "Like Krogan, Asari live for awhile."

"So how old are you Wrex?" Patrick asked interested.

"None of your damn business, Hamilton," Wrex growled.

"That old, huh?" Patrick laughed and Ashley joined him, but she was the only one. Everyone else seemed to notice Wrex's annoyance towards Patrick. The Serviceman had hoped to lighten things up with the Krogan, but it appeared that things had only gotten worse.

"If you excuse me," Kaidan said, standing up, "I want a few words with the Commander."

"I'll be going too," Garrus said, following Kaidan's lead, "I want to make sure you two didn't damage the Mako all that badly with your rough landing."

Soon everyone left and Patrick sat alone, thinking about everything.

_What was happening in the real world? _Patrick thought to himself as he pictured his father and siblings out looking for him. _I've been here for what? _Patrick quickly counted the days in his mind. _Almost two weeks. Is time the same here as it is there?_

Patrick's thoughts then turned to more urgent matters. _How am I even going to get home? I can't go the same way I came. Unless there was some game called "The Real World." _Patrick thought about that. So far that was the only option he saw.

Patrick was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't hear Shepard and Kaidan walk nearby. Patrick almost called out to them until he heard his name mentioned in the conversation.

"Serviceman Hamilton did well with a sniper rifle, Commander," Kaidan said, "I wouldn't trust him with a shotgun though."

"That's good," Shepard said and then paused, "I've checked over the files on Eden Prime like you asked me to, Alenko. You were right. There is no Patrick Hamilton listed as a farmer there."

Patrick felt his stomach drop and his head sway. _Shit. Shit. Shit._

Kaidan paused and then said, "I've been thinking about what I said before, Commander. I think that perhaps I misjudged Hamilton. I actually think that maybe he could really help the team."

Shepard nodded, "It could always be a mistake?"

"Yes it could, Commander," Kaidan said and the two of them said there goodbyes before leaving for different parts of the ship.

Patrick felt his body relax with relief and he placed his head in his hands, sighing. Maybe things were turning around for him…

**A/N: **Hmm… not a big fan of this chapter, but I thought it was a nice way to get the crew interacting and everything. I'm pretty sure I made every character talk in this chapter. Anyway this is my longest chapter yet so cheers to that. Please review. It only takes a second and means a lot to me.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

_Feros_

**Author's Note: **This chapter will dive a little deeper into Patrick's past, bringing up his mother, and we will also see some compassion from our favorite Commanding Officer. While I want to remain as canon to the game as possible, this chapter may differ because Feros was a long mission and things might be changed to make it a bit briefer. In addition, I don't remember every small detail that occurred on Feros.

Space was incredible. That was Patrick's opinion at least and as he stared out of the Normandy's window as it cut through the dark abyss, he thought about his mother. He hadn't thought about her since her death months upon months ago yet since meeting up with Shepard and joining the Alliance, his thoughts returned to her more than they did his still living members of the Hamilton family tree who were probably still out looking for him. Out of all the Hamilton children, Patrick looked the most like his mother. His hair, when he didn't wear it short, was wavy and during his brief years as a punk in high school, his curls had framed the side of his pale face and draped down his narrow neck. He had Dorothy Hamilton's face… their noses were turned up slightly; only noticeable if it was pointed out and their eyes were the same almond-shaped even if he had the same color irises as William. Patrick touched the glass of the window, an icy chill climbing up his back and raising his hairs before he turned around, wanting to be down in the hull with everyone where the sounds of friends talking and engineers breathing as they worked warmed the cool, metal ship.

Dorothy Hamilton was dead. As Patrick summoned the elevator, he realized he never really accepted her death. He had merely distanced himself from the rest of the family, wanting to never remember his mother's long blonde hair or her pale gray eyes. Now as he leaned against the metal interior of the Normandy, he brought his hands to his face and tried to recall every detail of his mother: the way she had moved and the way she had laughed when her children teased her about her West Virginia accent that had been passed onto the eldest Hamilton son, Joseph who forced it to leave his mouth after his mother's death. Most of all, Patrick tried to remember his mother's smile when she looked at William and the small, hesitant smirk that would dance on his lips. Dorothy Hamilton was the only person who could make William smile, a feat that since her passing has been impossible. Even with William's joy at Joseph when he became a lieutenant like his father, the old man hadn't given one smile. Patrick realized he missed his father's happiness more than he had originally thought and if- when he got home, he would go to Dorothy's grave and thank her for giving William almost three decades of laughter and smiles.

As the doors to the elevator slid open, Patrick looked up, dark eyes widening as he caught Shepard's gaze. The Serviceman stepped to the side, allowing Shepard passage out of the elevator, and greeted his Commander with a curt nod, trying to follow Alliance procedure as much as possible even if he was unfamiliar with some of the actions, "Commander."

"Hamilton," Shepard said in response and took a step out of the elevator, but his hand rested on Patrick's chest, forcing the younger lad to stop. Patrick glanced up at Shepard, worrying that the Commander had chose to interrogate him about his none existent life on Eden Prime despite what he had said to Kaidan, but the older man merely stared at the Serviceman before asking, his voice holding no jeering tone and only showing the deepest concern, "Are you alright?"

Patrick nodded, wiping his hand across his face that had begun to feel damp. It was only then did Patrick realize he had been crying. Shepard seemed to sense Patrick's surprise because he clasped Hamilton on the shoulder and said, his commanding voice for once softening to a small murmur, "I know I may be your Commanding Officer, Hamilton, but that doesn't mean you can't confide in me. There's no rule that says you can't be friends with your Commander."

"Thank you, Commander, but I'll be fine," Patrick said, sidestepping Shepard and walking into the elevator. Shepard seemed to take this as goodbye for he began to walk away, but Patrick stopped the elevator doors from closing, pushing the metal doors open so he could call out to Shepard, "My mother died a year ago."

Shepard stopped for a moment before turning around to face Patrick and Hamilton thought he could see sympathy swimming in the Commander's blue eyes as he said, "I'm sorry to hear that, Hamilton."

"She died a year ago," Patrick repeated before looking at Shepard, clenching his hands in anger as he remembered his mother's death. He had been there when her heart had stopped breathing… when the light left her gray eyes. He had held her hand as she whispered that she loved him and his family and he had called the hospital to beg for assistance. That was one of the reasons Patrick had been so absorbed in the virtual world. It was safer- and cheaper- than alcohol and drugs. "She died because some asshole wanted the pieces of paper in her purse. I was there when she died."

"Damn, I'm sorry, Hamilton," Shepard said and moved forward to place a comforting hand on Patrick's shoulder as the younger man shuddered underneath his touch. "I never knew my parents and I guess that made life easier for me. I never had to lose them."

Patrick stared up at Shepard in surprise, learning something he never knew about the Commander. "I was born on Earth and raised in an orphanage until I was nine. Then I lived on the streets with a bunch of petty criminals and human mercenary gangs, none that you would know, until the Alliance offered me a chance to join them. I did. Best damn decision of my life."

Shepard glanced down at Patrick and asked, "You alright, Hamilton?"

"Yes, thank you," Patrick whispered before stepping back into the elevator. Before the doors closed, Patrick asked, "Commander, I don't mean to intrude, but were you down in hull with Chief Williams?"

The doors slid shut before Shepard could answer, but Patrick thought he saw a faint pink color appear on the Commander's neck. This thought made Patrick smirk to himself and when the elevator doors opened, he saw Ashley, bending over some rifles, very pink in the face as well. Not wanting to disturb whatever thoughts the Chief might be having, Patrick walked over to Wrex and asked, "How are you keeping, Wrex?"

Wrex glanced down at Patrick, black eyes narrowed, and growled, "Don't bother, human. We both know you really don't care."

"You're a pleasure to talk to," Patrick snapped sarcastically. He knew that Wrex didn't like him… he probably loathed him although he wouldn't admit it, but the Krogan loved to tell stories of all the killings he had done. He just wouldn't say anymore.

"Listen, human," Wrex growled, raising a fist to Patrick and shaking it at him. Patrick was momentarily afraid Wrex was going to pick him up and throttle him before he realized that the Krogan wouldn't want to disrespect Shepard by killing a member of his crew. He also probably enjoyed his life and either Ashley or Garrus, whoever was quicker with a pistol, would probably fire at the enraged Krogan. "I put up with your never-ending questions because you are a part of Shepard's crew, but our relationship doesn't have to grow past two fellow soldiers who just so happened to follow the same orders. We don't have to like each other."

"What if I don't want to dislike you, Wrex?" Patrick asked, staring Wrex straight in his black eyes. Two weeks- hell two days ago, Patrick would have been terrified of the Krogan, but his conversation with Shepard gave him courage. Probably false courage, but courage none the less. "You say we don't have to like each other, but we also don't have to hate each other."

"I don't hate you," Wrex growled, "I hate all humans! You're all soft. Humans, Salarians, Asari, all soft! Quarians not so much and turians are the only ones that put up a real fight. Shepard is the only one of your species I can stand so unless you want me to blow off your head with a shotgun, I would advise you to leave me the hell alone, Hamilton."

Patrick didn't need telling twice- he had seen the anger in Wrex's eyes- and he walked deeper into the ship towards someone who hopefully wouldn't put up as much of a fight. Tali was bent over a computer, like she always seemed to be whenever Patrick came to visit her, and as he walked towards her, she turned around to look at him. Patrick didn't need to look into her eyes or see the frown tugging at her lips to know that she was unhappy.

"Hello, Serviceman Hamilton," Tali sighed.

"You alright, Tali? You seem a little down," Patrick asked with a gentle smile, a thought playing on the edge of his mind. Maybe knowing the future could have its advantages. "Is the Normandy too quiet for you to sleep?"

"It's just- wait… what?" Tali seemed extremely surprised about Patrick's knowledge of her feelings, all trace of despair momentarily absent from her voice. "How did you know, Serviceman?"

"I told you, Tali, there is no need to be informal. I'm not your Commanding Officer. Just call me Patrick," Hamilton said with a small smile, "And lucky guess, I expect. You're usually so cheery. The only logical reason I could think of that would explain your unhappiness would be that you were unhappy on board the Normandy."

"I'm not unhappy on board the Normandy, Ser- Patrick," Tali explained, "You, Commander Shepard, and the rest of the crew have been very good to me and the Normandy is amazing, it's just- so quiet as you said before. With the Migrant Fleet, we are always worried about a silent ship because it means something has died and Shepard has such a small crew! With the Migrant Fleet, it is so crowded yet I- I have begun to…" Tali's voice trailed off.

"You have begun to miss the crowds?" Patrick offered and Tali nodded.

"Exactly," Tali sighed, "This must be what the Pilgrimage is really about. I never realized how much I missed everything-" Again Tali's voice trailed off, leaving Patrick to step in again,

"Until it was gone?"

Tali stared at Patrick, "You really have a knack for finishing people's sentences, don't you Patrick?"

Patrick grinned, "Just tell me when it gets annoying."

"Will do," Tali said with a laugh just as Shepard's voice sounded overhead,

"Alenko, Williams, Hamilton, suit up. We're about to land on Feros."

Patrick jumped at the sound of his name and glanced at Tali, fear taking over his tongue, "What? Me? What the hell is Shepard thinking? I'm not ready to join him on a mission! I- I…"

"Relax, Patrick," Tali laughed again, "I saw you practicing with the lieutenant. If Shepard thinks you're ready then you are. The Commander wouldn't make this decision lightly."

Patrick nodded, "I guess you're right. Well, I'll be seeing you around, Tali."

"Try and stay alive," Tali advised.

"I'll do my best," Patrick grinned and walked slowly to the elevator, meeting Ashley on the way. "Chief."

"Farmer," Ashley greeted, with a smile playing on her lips. Patrick rolled his eyes at the old nickname that had somehow stuck even after he became a Serviceman. Ashley then nudged Patrick with her shoulder and asked, "Are you nervous about Feros?"

"Me? Nervous?" Patrick laughed and then added, "I'm terrified."

"Don't be," Ashley said, "Shepard wouldn't have chosen you if he didn't think you were capable and plus, you have the lieutenant and myself to watch your back. Just aim and fire and _don't _try and play the hero. The last thing we need is two Shepards."

"I heard that, Chief," Shepard's voice sounded in the elevator and Ashley grinned at Patrick,

"Oops. Sorry Commander."

Patrick returned Ashley's grin and together they headed towards the airlock where Shepard and Kaidan already were waiting, already suited in their armor. Patrick took his from the storage bin by the airlock and started putting it over his uniform, still not used to the weight of the armor. It weighed roughly around fifteen pounds and that didn't include the sniper rifle that he had to throw on his back. The armor was uncomfortable too. It was hot against his body and a little big, mainly because he wasn't as "beefy" as other Alliance soldiers like Shepard and Kaidan, but he supposed it could be worse. Patrick was lucky to have gotten free armor at all.

"Okay so according to Captain Anderson," Shepard said, bringing everyone's focus on him, "There is a small human colony on Feros: Zhu's Hope. They have reported seeing numerous geth activity and a big corporation, ExoGeni, has lost a building to the machines. We're going to help the colony as much as we can _and _find out why Saren came to Feros."

"I think it's pretty obvious as to why Saren attacked Feros," Kaidan said, "He hates humans. Captain Anderson said it himself. Does there have to be something special about Feros?"

"Why would he single Feros out though? There are a dozen other human colonies," Surprisingly it wasn't Shepard who disagreed with Kaidan, but Patrick and his neck darkened as everyone looked at him- especially Kaidan- but he continued, "There has to be something here. Commander, did ExoGeni say anything about what they were studying on Feros?"

The _Thorian?_

"No," Shepard said, "ExoGeni claimed that they settled on Feros because it would give the colonists new job opportunities. They didn't release any findings or anything. Until the geth attack, they've actually been pretty quiet."

"So the official story is that ExoGeni wanted to spend money to open up a facility on Feros out of the good of their hearts?" Kaidan asked and it seemed like Patrick and the lieutenant were for once on the same side.

"Yes," Shepard said with a curt nod.

"Only an idiot believes the official story," Joker's voice sounded in the airlock, vibrating off the walls of the small room, "Shepard, we're descending into Feros's atmosphere. ETA two minutes."

"Take us in, Joker," Shepard said.

The Normandy bounced a bit as it went from its smooth space surroundings and onto the unstable atmosphere below. Patrick held onto the silver wall of the airlock to keep from being tossed to the ground while the Alliance soldiers stared at him, their arms crossed as they kept perfect balance. Patrick felt his face color and was grateful when the Normandy docked and the airlock slid open, everyone's attention switching from him to the unfamiliar world outside.

"Good luck, Commander," Joker said before he signed off, leaving the shore party to brave Feros on their own.

"After you, Chief," Patrick said with a grin, nodding for Ashley to go first who shook her head, smirking softly,

"Oh no. After you, Serviceman."

"After me," Shepard said and walked out, everyone else following him. The Feros landing zone was very large although most of was just empty space, ready if a ship ever docked. The dust that clung to the stonewalls were clear evidence that Normandy was the first ship to have arrived in quite sometime. As the shore party continued to walk ahead, Patrick spotted a colonist strolling towards them. Shepard saw him too because he lifted his hand and everyone stopped.

"Hello?" Shepard called and Patrick saw one of the Commander's hands edge towards his pistol. Ashley and Kaidan had also taken a defensive position and Patrick found his finger brushing against the hilt of his sniper rifle.

"You!" The colonist shouted, pointing a finger at Shepard, "Fai Dan wants to speak to you."

"Who's Fai Dan?" Shepard asked and the colonist was about to respond when something caught Patrick's eye. A thin white form with a glowing head was walking towards them, a rifle in their hand.

"Get down!" Patrick shouted, grabbing the colonist's shoulders and practically shoving him to the ground before leaning down beside the man. Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan had all ducked underneath crates and other stone structures and everyone was firing off round after round. Patrick leaned forward and saw a geth shock trooper, two normal geth soldiers, and two snipers. Some greeting party.

Patrick took out his sniper rifle, excited to use his newly acquired weapon in actual combat instead of just shooting rocks with Kaidan. He put the end of it on his shoulder and stared into the lens, everything slowly coming into focus. Patrick bit his lip as he pulled the trigger, but instantly relaxed after one of the geth soldiers went down. He was getting used to the weight of the weapon, but what he was not used to was the ringing sound that thundered in his ears after he shot the rifle. Unlike the pistol which had been clued to his hip, the rifle was right next to his ear.

"Well done, everyone," Shepard praised as they all stood up.

"Good eye, Hamilton," Kaidan said with a nod, "I didn't see those geth until you spotted them."

Patrick merely nodded before bending down to help the surviving colonist. In the game, whoever he was had died. "Excuse me, are you okay? I didn't mean to throw you that hard."

"I am alright," The colonist said, taking Patrick's hand as the Serviceman pulled him so that he was standing. "Thank you."

"What's your name?" Shepard asked, stepping forward so that he was next to Patrick.

"Michael Dan," Michael said, pushing a strand of black hair off of his dark face. Patrick couldn't tell if he had naturally dark skin or if it was just dirt clinging to his face.

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "You're Fai Dan's son?"

"Nephew," Michael said, "My father was Fai Dan's brother. He died during the first geth attack."

"I'm sorry," Shepard said and Michael just shrugged,

"I wasn't close to him. He forced me to come to Feros with him and Fai Dan." Michael said simply with a shrug. "Fai Dan's a much better parent than my father ever was."

Shepard nodded while Kaidan suggested, "Should we go see him now?"

Michael nodded, "That would be a good idea. I know he will be anxious to see you all."

The five of them- a commander who would go down in history as one of the greatest soldiers in history, two Alliance soldiers, a colonist, and some kid who was just lucky to be there- headed up a flight of stairs. Patrick walked behind the group with Ashley who kept looking behind her.

"What?" Patrick whispered after Ashley had done it for the third time.

"I feel like someone- or something is watching us," Ashley answered and suddenly she whirled around again, firing two shots. To Patrick's surprise, a geth dropped down from the wall.

"Everyone get behind something," Patrick warned loudly and everyone got behind the stonewall, Shepard dragging Michael with him. Patrick leaned over and fired, but his eye caught something. The geth that was firing at them was attached to the wall, making small noises as its face lit up.

"That's not like any of the geth we've seen before," Patrick heard Kaidan whisper, his low voice cutting through the gunshots.

After a couple more moments with everyone firing clip after clip at the strange geth, the white body fell to the ground with a crack. Shepard was the first to stand up and everyone soon followed, watching the commander as he looked down at the deactivated geth, "When we were on Therum, a group of geth like this attacked us during our search for Liara. They must be a more advanced model that the typical geth troopers."

"No machine should be that flexible," Ashley muttered and everyone nodded in agreement before continuing their walk up to the colony and to Fai Dan.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Patrick got his first look at the colony and was surprised when it looked much different then it did in the game. The first thing you saw when you got a glimpse of the colony was a man leaning on an electrical wire, his entire right leg soaked in blood. Two soldiers hovered around him, their guns trained on Patrick and the others before they relaxed. Their faces were black with dirt and their clothes were torn, signs of the hard life that the geth had unleashed on them. The sight made Patrick sick to his stomach.

"People signed up for this?" Patrick asked Michael who nodded,

"People either want adventure or a new life." Michael paused, "Earth isn't the best place to be anymore with all its crime and gangs and most other planets are run by other races. Human colonies are the only places we can really relax. Here I take you to meet Fai Dan. He's just through these buildings."

Patrick and the others walked through the metal structures, more and more dirty colonists meeting their eyes. There were people on the ground, either sleeping or bleeding, while the med bay, or what Patrick assumed was the med bay, was filled with a dozen people all seeking treatment. One woman, her brown hair streaked with strands of blonde, black, and gray, moaned, "Evil is here! The stink of evil! From below! From below!"

Patrick felt himself slow down as he stared at the woman, golden blue eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to see everyone at once. Was she talking about the Thorian? Patrick didn't know, but he did know that in a few hours, every member of Zhu's Hope would be indoctrinated, serving the Thorian… or a giant plant.

"This way," Michael said as he led them down a stone corridor where a man and a woman were standing side by side.

"No, I'm sure they're here to help us," The man, who Patrick instantly realized was Fai Dan, argued with his companion, "If you don't trust them, you might as well make yourself useful around here!" And with that Fai Dan dismissed the woman with a wave of his hand before his black eyes noticed Patrick and the others.

"Greetings. I am Fai Dan, the elected leader of Zhu's Hope," Fai Dan walked towards them, his hand outstretched as he shook Shepard's hand, "Are you with the Alliance? Did they send help? Its been weeks since we saw a friendly ship dock."

"Commander Shepard," Shepard said with a curt nod, "We're with the Alliance. We were sent to examine the geth attacks that have recently been reported. We hope to help your colony, Fai Dan, but our mission must take priority."

"I understand, Commander," Fai Dan said with a polite nod, "We all have our respon- " The sound of geth cut Fai Dan off and the five humans stared up a stairwell where six machines stood, armed and ready to fire.

"Shit its those damn machines again!" Fai Dan swore, "They're in the stairwell! Everyone take defensive procedures!"

"Ready to kill some geth?" Shepard asked, a smile twitching on his lips despite the severity of the situation.

"I'm always ready," Ashley challenged, a grin on her own face.

"Less talking, more shooting," Kaidan said as he stood up, a blue energy wrapping around him as he threw a geth shock trooper into a nearby wall, the machine hitting the ground with a loud thud.

"Nice," Patrick grinned at Kaidan before taking out a geth sniper with his own sniper rifle.

Patrick felt Shepard's hand on his back as the Commander took out two geth troopers, Ashley getting the last one, "Nice work, Hamilton. You really are getting the hang of this."

"Thank you, Commander," Patrick nodded at Shepard who turned to look at the rest of his team,

"There are bound to be more. Come on!"

They raced up the stairs- Patrick had to take two at a time to compete with the soldiers' long legs- taking out a couple geth every few seconds. As the team of four drew closer, Shepard signaled them to stop as a problem… two problems presented themselves: there were two staircases and the sounds of geth came from both of them.

Shepard pointed at Kaidan, "Alenko, take Williams down those stairs and see what you can find. Hamilton and myself will go up a flight." Patrick blinked as Shepard picked him to accompany him. Usually it was Kaidan or even Ashley, but no. For some reason unknown, the Commander had picked Patrick.

"Yes sir," Kaidan said with a salute as the teams split up, Patrick crouching behind Shepard as they moved up the stairs. Patrick had his pistol out and he felt his fingers tense every time a sound was heard. After walking for a couple minutes, Shepard signaled for Patrick to stop and the two of them crouched outside a doorway, the sounds of geth reaching their ears.

"One…" Shepard whispered, reloading his shotgun.

"Two…" Patrick added, making sure his pistol was ready.

"Three!" The two of them shouted, jumping into the other room and shooting up everything that moved. A geth destroyer was the first thing that went down and Patrick grinned as he brought down a shock trooper. Shepard was still the best, dropping five geth with three well-aimed shots. Soon the geth cleared out and Shepard leaned against the wall, breathing quietly.

"I'm getting too old for this," Shepard panted, smiling softly, "Too bad for my body this is the only thing I will ever want to do."

Patrick stared at Shepard and as he watched his Commander wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead, he started thinking about William. His father had served in the navy for almost thirty years since the time he was twenty. Even after meeting Dorothy, William had continued serving his country and would until he took a couple shots in his shoulder. He was fine, but after receiving the purple heart, he had been forced to retire.

"Don't you ever want a family?" Patrick asked as he followed Shepard out of the stone room.

"Sure," Shepard said with a laugh, "But I don't need to quit the Alliance or stop being a Spectre just because I have a family. Captain Anderson has two sons and he is still a valuable part of the Alliance."

"What about Spectres?" Patrick asked curiously, "Do Spectres have children most of the time?"

"You're forgetting that I am the only human Spectre," Shepard said, "The other species don't really focus on breeding as much as we do. Salarian fathers don't really play a big part in their child's life and since they have such a short lifespan, their children aren't really children for that long. Salarians reach the age of adulthood on the fifteenth birthday. Turians… I guess parents are encouraged to bring their kids on their ships. Almost every turian grows up to be a soldier. Asaris… I don't know. I guess a lot of them have kids, but not a lot of Asari become Spectres. Its mostly turians and Salarians."

"And humans," Patrick said with a smile.

"Hopefully in the future," Shepard said with a nod.

Their conversation was cut off as Kaidan and Ashley met them outside Zhu's Hope camp. Shepard stared at them and asked, "Did you two find any geth?"

"A couple geth troopers," Kaidan explained while Ashley added,

"There were some varren too, but they seemed to pose no real threat."

"Except for a giant brute," Kaidan said, "We tried to take him down, but he disappeared before we could get a good shot."

Patrick stared at Shepard, memories of the game flashing in his mind, "That giant varren could be causing problems for the colonists. Maybe we should ask about it around the colony."

"Good idea, Hamilton," Shepard said with a nod, "But first, let's see if Fai Dan needs anymore help."

Patrick nodded and the four of them walked into Zhu's Hope, Fai Dan meeting them halfway, Michael close behind his uncle. Fai Dan stopped a couple feet away from them and asked, "Did you get all the geth, Commander?"

"All the geth have been eliminated," Shepard said simply.

"Not all of them," Michael said, nodding towards the hallways that moments before were swarming with geth, "There's still the geth ship at the ExoGeni headquarters."

"Michael is right," Fai Dan said, "Until those geth have been dealt with, more and more will keep on showing up."

"We'll take care of them," Shepard promised.

"Is there anything else we can do to help?" Ashley asked.

"The geth is your main concern," Fai Dan said, but Michael added,

"There are so problems around the colony, but Fai Dan is right. The geth are the more urgent issue."

"None sense," Shepard said, "I think a team of three would be enough to penetrate the ExoGeni headquarters not to mention any workers that might still be there. One of my own will stay with you and help you."

"Who?" Kaidan asked and Patrick already knew who it was going to be,

"Serviceman Hamilton, would you mind?"

Patrick glanced at the faces of Fai Dan and Michael. In a couple hours, the Thorian would take control of them and turn them against their allies. Patrick would probably have to fight them unless… Patrick's next thoughts scared him. What if the Thorian controlled him as well? How long did it take for someone to become indoctrinated? Patrick didn't know, but he did know that he couldn't let this people suffer and by staying at the colony, he could help them.

Patrick stared Shepard straight in the eye, never blinking, and said simply, "I'll do whatever I can to help them."

**Author's Note: **Hey sorry for the delay. I've got a lot going on right now and I'm finding it harder and harder to finish chapters with my time schedule. Hopefully in the next few days, I'll be able to manage my time more efficiently. I'm also going away for the spring holiday so I don't know if I'll be able to post another chapter before I leave. I just want to say: Happy Easter! Happy Passover! And if you don't celebrate those holidays just Happy Spring!

PS: Another long chapter. J


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

_The Thorian_

"It was nice of the Commander to let you stay and help us," Michael said as he led Patrick deep into the lower levels of the colony that according to several colonists were the varrens' nests. The giant varren that had attacked Kaidan and Ashley earlier was obviously the leader and Patrick had offered to take down the brute that was posing so much of a threat to the colonists. Fai Dan had told Michael to accompany Patrick since he was one of the best shooters in the colony which had led them to their current situation. "I mean I'm sure the Commander could have used your help up at the ExoGeni headquarters."

"You underestimate Shepard, Michael," Patrick said, his hand brushing against a warm wall. The whole lower level of the colony seemed to be alive. The air was moist from so many varren living together in such a tight space and the floors seemed to breathe every time Patrick took a step. Patrick found himself sweating underneath his armor, but was determined not to show any weakness in front of Michael. If the colonist could move quickly in the heat then Patrick would force himself to do the same. "Shepard has quite a resume. He's done the impossible."

Michael nodded, "We heard about how he is the first human Spectre. That was before the geth cut our communications."

"He's a good man," Patrick agreed as they continued their walk down the dark halls, the only light trickling from the cracks on the ceiling. Patrick could barely see Michael standing beside him and he knew if they were to run into any varren at that moment, they would be very easy prey.

"How long have you been serving underneath him?" Michael asked and Patrick wondered what was with the twenty questions before he felt his ally shaking beside him. The colonist was nervous! Patrick almost tripped in surprise as he realized the truth. Michael just wanted to keep Patrick talking. Noise was better than silence especially in a dark atmosphere.

"Only a couple of weeks, but the good thing about Shepard is that he really makes you feel like you've known each other forever. He is a charismatic individual." Patrick said honestly and the two of them walked in silence for a couple minutes until the sound of heavy breathing caused Patrick to stop, placing a firm hand on Michael's shoulder to tell him to stay silent. "Did you hear that?"

Before Michael could respond, Patrick felt himself topple over, some heavy object landing on his back. The dark creature clawed at Patrick's armor, but was unable to do anything except to press Patrick's face harder into the stone ground. "Shit! Get him off of me!"

Patrick tried to reach his pistol, but when he twitched his arm, the varren seemed to decide that the hand was the threat and jumped onto Patrick's arm. Patrick could hear Michael stumbling off him, trying to locate exactly where the varren was so he didn't accidentally shoot the Serviceman. "Just shoot the goddamn gun, Michael!"

There was a flash of the light as the bullet was shot out and Patrick felt the body fall onto his arm, practically crushing his fingers. "Shit, Serviceman, are you alright?"

Patrick managed to find Michael's hand and allowed the colonist to pull him to his feet, both of them panting heavily. With the faint light coming from the ceiling, Patrick bent down and examined the varren, "Do you think it's the brute everyone was talking about?"

Michael bent down to join Patrick, his fingers brushing against the rough skin of the dead creature, "I don't know a lot about varren, but this one does seem larger than normal ones."

"Should we continue and see if we run into anymore? If this is the brute then the attacks should sort of stop, but if it isn't…" Patrick's voice trailed off. "What do you think?"

Michael didn't say anything and Patrick glanced at the colonist, watching as his outline began to twitch and moan. "Michael…?"

Michael still didn't say anything and instead lifted the pistol. Even in the dark, Patrick knew it was aimed at him.

"Shit!" Patrick shouted, rolling away from Michael, "Shit! Shit! Shit! Michael, it's me!"

Michael stood up and began to limp towards Patrick, gun aimed directly at his head. Patrick scrambled backwards, grabbing his gun and aiming it at Michael. "Michael, stop!"

Michael didn't stop and Patrick closed his eyes. A shot rang out.

Patrick's eyes flew open and he watched Michael fall to the floor, clutching a wounded leg. Patrick sighed in relief as he realized that he hadn't killed Michael, but when the colonist tried to reach his fallen gun, the Serviceman knew he had to leave his ally. "Sorry Michael. I'll send someone to help you later." _If there is anyone sane enough to help you… _

_Shit. Okay so the Thorian is exercising its control over the colonists. I still have control over my mind so maybe the indoctrination process takes longer than I originally thought. Or maybe its just Michael… it's been silent overhead so maybe the colonists are still normal. Shit. Okay so when the colonists fell under the Thorian's control, Shepard was… shit. Had the geth ship fallen yet? Is Shepard on his way back with news of the Thorian or does he not even know about the giant plant under Zhu's Hope? Shit. Maybe I should have gone with the Commander._

Patrick fought with his thoughts as he ran up the stairs, two at a time, anxiety clawing at his chest. Every time a thought trailed off or a memory seemed blurry, Patrick wondered if he was beginning to lose his mind, one step at a time. If he lost it then… would this Shepard, the Shepard that Patrick had gotten to know for weeks, save the colonists or kill them? Would Shepard save Patrick or kill him if he fell to the control of the Thorian?

_Of course he would, _Patrick thought to himself, _Even if he didn't, I'm sure Kaidan would. He always tries to do the right thing, but would he disobey Shepard? Ashley definitely would try and convince Shepard to save him. She was probably one of his closest friends on the Normandy._

"Shit!" Patrick felt his feet slip from underneath him and his whole body slammed against the stone steps. The force of the fall vibrated through his whole armor and Patrick felt himself rolling over onto his back, lying in the thick heat of the Feros air.

_Maybe I should just stay here… I won't have to shoot any of the colonists should I run into them and I won't get in the way of anyone. I can hide here with the varren and maybe try and find a way home. Maybe if I stop following the course of the game, I will just return home… with Lily… and Father… and…_

"Serviceman Hamilton, can you read me? Serviceman Hamilton, are you there? Shit kid, answer me," Patrick sat up immediately as Joker's voice flowed through the com system, the light purr of the Normandy sounding behind the pilot's voice.

"Loud and clear, Joker," Patrick answered and he heard a sigh of relief from the other end.

"What's going on at the colony?" Joker asked, static cutting through his voice.

"What?"

"I said what's going on at the colony?" Joker repeated, "The colonists that were patrolling the landing dock seemed to have completely lost their minds. They started screaming like hell and they're clawing at the Normandy trying to get in."

"_Indoctrination,_" Patrick whispered and then added, "Have you spoken with the Commander?"

"No," Joker answered, "I've lost complete contact with him."

"Keep trying to get in touch with him," Patrick said and then paused realizing it sounded like an order, adding, "Do you think that's the best plan?" Joker grunted an agreement and then Patrick suggested, "I'm going to see if I can Fai Dan and maybe see what's going on." _If Fai Dan isn't already indoctrinated…_

"Okay," Joker paused, "So I take it I can't tell Wrex he's allowed to shoot the colonists?"

"Do you _want _to piss the Commander off?" Patrick asked, pushing himself up on the ground. Even though he was nothing, but a lazy ass kid from Jersey, Patrick had enough sense not to piss Shepard off.

"Good point," Joker said and Patrick could almost see the pilot wincing, "Okay Joker out."

Patrick continued walking up the stairs and finally the light of the sun fell across his pale face. The hallway was deserted unlike an hour before when Patrick was taking out a horde of geth alongside Shepard. The sounds of battle seemed to still bounce off the stone walls and Patrick wondered if that was an omen for another fight approaching.

"Fai Dan?" Patrick called, his voice vibrating off the walls and echoing in the silence. "Is anyone here?"

There was some movement and Patrick whirled around, his pistol already aimed and ready to fire if necessary. Patrick was hoping he wouldn't have to fire his gun, but if he had to, hopefully there wouldn't be any human blood on his hands. He could deal with geth and when they caught up with Saren he would love to fire the killing shot, but could he actually shoot indoctrinated humans who in their own way were completely innocent?

A deep moaning came from behind a giant piece of stone and a tall, gray body stood up. At first Patrick thought it was a corpse somehow reanimated and then his next thought was that it was some gray husk. Its hands were long claws and black sockets were the closest thing the creature had to eyes.

"A real Thorian creeper," Patrick whispered in wonder, completely forgetting the danger he was in. The creeper turned and glared at Patrick, or what he assumed was a glare, and tipped its head back, green spews of who knows what flying at Patrick. The acidic plasma burned Patrick's skin through the armor and he swore, "Shit! Not good!"

Patrick lifted up his pistol and fired two shots, watching as the creeper slid to the ground and after a few spasms, the creature was dead. Patrick leaned forward and stared at the creeper, whispering, "And I thought Krogans were ugly."

"Noise… up… here…" A mechanical voice joined Patrick's and he stood up quickly, realizing that he could hear the light padding of feet walking up the staircase.

"Shit," Patrick backed up, but there was nothing around him except for the wall. Two colonists appeared, their faces white and damp with sweat, two pistols in their hands, pointed directly at Patrick. "Shit. Listen! I'm not the enemy here. You are being controlled!"

Whether they didn't hear him or they didn't understand, Patrick didn't know, but the colonists kept moving forward, aiming for Patrick's head. He lifted up his own pistol, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. If he shot one and then quickly shot the other, he risked giving the first one time to reload and be able to kill him. Although if he killed them… Patrick didn't want that on his conscience even if they were nothing, but data.

Running was heard coming down a flight of stairs and Patrick barely blinked before a flash of green knocked him to his feet, his back landing hard on the ground. "What the hell?"

Patrick looked up at three figures that were moving around him, one of them bent over an unconscious colonist. "It worked, Commander. Lizbeth was right."

"Commander," Patrick pushed himself up once more and looked up at Shepard who was standing over Kaidan as he examined the colonist. "What the hell-?"

Patrick was cut off by Ashley who heaved him to his feet only to slam him against the wall, "Shit Ash! What was that for?"

"Williams, what are you doing?" Shepard demanded, walking over to Ashley and resting a hand on her shoulder.

"He could be indoctrinated, Commander," Ashley said, a pistol pointed directly at Patrick's head. It was then that Patrick realized his thoughts before were wrong. Shepard would most likely ask questions before shooting and he would never kill an ally. Ashley on the other hand was to shoot first and ask questions later.

"We left him here for an hour, Williams," Shepard said simply, nudging Ashley back a little bit so she had to release her grip on Patrick, "I'm sure he's fine. Right, Hamilton?"

"Yeah," Patrick said, rubbing his shoulder where Ashley had grabbed him. He certainly didn't want to intentionally piss her off. She might actually kill him. "I remember everything."

"Maybe we should question him," Kaidan suggested. _Of course suspicious Alenko wouldn't trust him. _More moaning came from the stairs and every unsheathed their weapons, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Later," Shepard ordered, "We have some old friends to deal with, but if he proves to be indoctrinated, you have my permission to shoot him, LT."

"Thanks Commander," Patrick said, but no one paid attention to him as they ran down the stairs, shooting at the horde of Thorian creepers that were running towards them. Patrick fired off shot after shot and with a smirk watched two Thorian creepers fall because of him. Everyone else was doing just as well and soon the hallway was silent once more and everyone was moving once again.

"So what happened after we left?" Shepard asked as they ran, checking behind every corner for a crouching creeper.

"I went down to the lower levels with Michael to see if we could kill that giant varren that the Chief and Lieutenant were talking about. I think we may have killed him, but then Michael started acting all odd and began shooting at me. I shot him in the leg and left him down there. He seemed to be fine and he still had his gun so if any varren came along he would be able to defend himself. After that, I talked to Joker and he was trying to get in contact with you."

Kaidan nodded, "We talked to him apparently right after he shut off contact with you. He was saying about how there were problems in the colony and the colonists were going completely insane."

Patrick nodded in agreement before asking, "So what happened at the ExoGeni headquarters?" It was a pointless question since Patrick already knew what had occurred, but still to keep his charade he had to ask.

"A lot of geth," Ashley answered, "I've never seen so much. Not even on Eden Prime."

"We also learned about a sentient plant, the Thorian, living under Zhu's Hope," Shepard explained as they walked down more stairs, "It has the ability to indoctrinate anyone who lives around it for too long."

"That's what happened to the colonists," Kaidan added unnecessarily.

"What should we do next, Commander?" Patrick asked and Shepard paused before answering,

"Lizbeth, an ExoGeni worker we ran into, gave us a couple gas grenades that should knock out the colonists," Shepard said, "It won't cure them though. I think the only way to help them is to completely destroy the Thorian."

"And that involves us going underneath Zhu's Hope," Ashley added.

There was a pause where the only sound was their boots hiding the stone floor. Silence continued for a couple more seconds until Patrick said, "The colonists aren't going to let you do that. They will rather die then let the Thorian come to harm."

"Hopefully we have enough grenades," Shepard whispered.

"And if we don't?" Patrick asked.

There was yet another pause and Shepard answered, "Leave that to me. All of you just focus on the Thorian creepers."

"Aye, aye skipper," Ashley said confidently. Patrick wished he shared the Chief's confidence.

As soon as they entered the colony half a dozen creepers stood up and ran towards them, claws outstretched while brainwashed colonists defended them from behind cover. Patrick fired at the creepers just as Shepard had told him to and as he concentrated on the human-like creatures, he heard an explosion and green fire seemed to appear out of no where. The four colonists that had been defending the creepers lay motionless, not moving except for their chests.

"I was skeptical at first, but those grenades really work," Kaidan observed as they moved to a console that would move the giant freighter, shielding the Thorian. Shepard nodded to Kaidan to activate it, but as soon as the lieutenant touched, a set of deep moaning was heard and everyone whirled around. Patrick knew who it was, but was still shocked to see Fai Dan, the leader of the colonists, looking so weak and helpless.

"It wants me to destroy you… but I can't," Fai Dan whispered, stumbling towards them with a pistol in his hand, "No… I won't!" Fai Dan lifted the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

"Shit!" Ashley shouted and took a step towards Fai Dan, but the colonist was already dead. "We could have helped him."

"He didn't know that," Patrick whispered, feeling very sick in the stomach as he stared at Fai Dan, "To him that was the best option."

"I wonder how he was able to stop the indoctrination process," Kaidan wondered out loud.

"He didn't stop it," Shepard said, "Not fully. He must have just had a stronger willpower then the other colonists."

Ashley sighed, "Let's just move this freighter. After we take care of the Thorian, we can make sure he receives a proper burial." There was a pause and Ashley whispered, "Poor Michael."

Kaidan activated the console and the freighter moved. They all walked towards the stairs and Patrick glanced down into the darkness before turning to Ashley, "Ladies first?"

Ashley stared at Patrick an eyebrow raised and he shrugged, "Okay me first."

Patrick walked down the stairs, the layout of the level clear in his mind. They wouldn't run into any creepers until after they saw the Thorian. Everyone followed him and Ashley kept in step with Patrick, shuddering beside him. Patrick gave her an odd glance and she explained, "I hate the dark."

And it was dark. It was a little bit lighter then when Patrick was with Michael, but it was still hard to see. Patrick was grateful that he could at least see Ashley and the others so he didn't end up shooting one of them. Shepard's words about giving Kaidan permission to shoot him should he prove to be indoctrinated rang in Patrick's ears. Shepard was loyal to his teammates, but he always worked towards the greater good… always.

As well as being dark, the level was hot as hell although that was expected. The air was stale from being shut away by the freighter and the new, cooler air didn't make much of a difference. A couple beads of sweat fell from Patrick's bangs and as they continued walking, he debated on taking off his armor. Surely being armorless didn't make much of a difference? Patrick knew he was wrong. A soldier's armor could be the thing that keeps him alive or sentences him to death.

So sweating in the dark was the option and as they walked down flights and flights of stairs, Patrick began thinking about the planets they would visit later on in the game. Noveria… with its snowy mountains and cool temperatures…

"It's quiet," Ashley observed.

"Yeah," Patrick nodded his head in agreement, "No creepers yet."

"Now we have to find," Patrick stopped right behind Kaidan and everyone else halted beside them. "To find…"

The Thorian was a hell lot uglier in person.

That was Patrick's first opinion. The Thorian was an ugly brown color with red scarring that showed its age. It had long stems, the same color as the rest of its body, falling down its figure like hair on a human.

"That's a plant?" Ashley asked in wonder and Patrick silently agreed. The Thorian seemed to be more animal-like then plant-like. Patrick knew, should he ever return home, he would never look at garden flowers the same way again.

"That's…" Shepard's voice trailed off as though he was looking for the right words to describe the Thorian. "Large. This could be problematic." Despite not wanting to, Patrick followed Shepard and took a couple more paces towards the Thorian.

"So…" Kaidan said, standing beside Ashley, "What do you think we should do?"

Patrick glanced at the lieutenant and shrugged, "Poke it?"

"Hold on," Ashley said, "It's doing something."

The Thorian had begun to convulse and everyone raised their guns towards its… mouth where an asari was being dropped down. Shepard raised his hand and ordered, "Don't shoot."

The asari clone, green due to living inside the Thorian, stood up and glared at them before saying, her speech slurred, "You are before the Thorian. It commands you to be in awe."

Patrick shared a glance with Shepard and the Commander stared the Thorian down, saying, "Um… hi." Shepard took a step forward, not even really looking at the asari, but focusing mainly on the Thorian. "Listen, you gave Saren something. Something I need."

"The Thorian is angry at your request! How dare you try to command it?" The asari shouted, "Saren gave the Thorian something in return for the Cipher. For the first time in thousands of years, the Thorian listened to organics and trades were made!"

"We can make a trade," Shepard said calmly despite having the asari shouting at him.

"No," The asari shook her head wildly, "The Thorian was betrayed by the one you call Saren. It will not be betrayed again. You must die!" The asari's body glowed blue and threw a biotic field at Shepard who rolled away, shouting,

"Everyone duck!"

Patrick didn't need telling twice and dropped to the floor beside Ashley as the asari readied to attack again. The sounds of a dozen feet thundered around them mixed with loud growls.

Ashley pushed herself up and helped Patrick get to his feet, hissing at her friend, "Great. I thought we were done with the creepers."

_I didn't._

The next few seconds were a blur.

The creepers thundered in and soon Patrick was surrounded by a sea of gray, drowning in the stench of the Thorian's critters. The creepers were enough to deal with, but what made matters worse was the asari who kept throwing them around with her biotic abilities. Patrick was up against a wall with Ashley, his cold sweat making him completely forget about the unbearable heat, while Shepard and Kaidan were in the midst of the creepers. With all the creepers screaming and the gunshots going off, Patrick heard Shepard shout, "Kaidan, put a biotic field around us now!"

"I need space to do that, John!" No one even noticed that everyone was slipping into informalities. They were no longer Commander or Lieutenant or Chief or Serviceman, but four friends in a very difficult position.

"Shit!" Shepard shouted and then suddenly Patrick felt Ashley shove him towards the stairwell, the only part that didn't seem to be flooding with Thorian creepers.

"What the-"Patrick began, but Ashley cut him off,

"Just move, Patrick," Ashley ordered and then turned to shout at Shepard, "John, Kaidan, get to the stairwell!"

"Why?" Kaidan asked. _Ah Kaidan, _Patrick thought fondly, _Always asking questions when someone is trying to save your ass._

"Follow orders, Kaidan," Shepard shouted and soon the four of them were sprinting towards the stairwell. "So what exactly did you have in mind, Ash?"

"Just this," Ashley said and despite the situation, Patrick saw his friend's pink lips turn upwards in a smirk. Ashley slowed down so that she was behind them and suddenly a grenade appeared in her hand. Had he been playing the game instead of living it, Patrick would have sworn that some glitch made her get the grenade so quickly. Ashley through it in the middle of the creepers and with a loud bang that had Patrick covering his ears, the gray figures fell to the ground.

(**A/N: **I felt like we needed someone Ashley time since its always Shepard or Patrick saving the day.)

"And that's how it's done," Ashley said with a grin while everyone was looking at the gunnery chief in surprise. No one had even thought about using a grenade. Not even the great Commander Shepard.

"Nice job, Williams," Shepard said, formalities setting back in now that they were out of danger.

"Real nice job," Patrick added, grinning at his closest friend. Ashley smiled back before glancing up the stairwell where a dozen crouched Thorian creepers waited to spring…

"Looks like we're not even close to being done though," Ashley said with a sigh although confidence was settling in. After taking out the massive swarm of creepers, the team felt like they could do anything.

The four of them began walking up the stairs, the creepers never stirring, not even when Patrick almost tripped over one in the dim light. As they walked, Shepard stopped them suddenly and all four of them stared at a giant stem-type thing latched onto a nearby wall. With his hand still raised in the motion to stop, Shepard wondered out loud, "What do you think it is?"

"I think they're some sort of object that's keeping the Thorian suspended," Patrick knew that his guess was correct and while he was trying to be careful about not giving away too much, he wanted to get above ground as soon as possible. He loved space. His body had easily adapted to the changing air in space yet he felt completely uncomfortable underground.

"So if we shoot them…" Ashley started with a grin, glancing at Shepard with excited amber eyes.

"The Thorian should come crashing down," Shepard finished before raising his rifle, pausing to glance at Ashley, "Williams, would you care to do the honors?"

"My pleasure," Ashley said with another small grin, taking out her own rifle and breathing quietly before a round of shots echoed in the small space. The Thorian screeched in either pain or fury and suddenly the stairwell was filled with screaming creepers.

"Shit," Shepard swore, "That backfired."

"Up the stairs, up the stairs," Kaidan shouted and everyone began sprinting, Patrick and Shepard bringing up the rear.

Patrick turned around and fired a single shot, taking off a creeper's head. How much he had improved since Eden Prime…

"Hell yes!" Patrick crowed and Shepard took down two with a handful of shots, pulling off an equally amazing kill.

"Great shot, kid, now don't get cocky," Shepard said as they ran, turning around and firing more and more shots. Patrick grinned and took down another creeper, the 'kid' comment not even bothering him. He used to be annoyed when Ashley saddled him with that title, but he was too focused on missions to care what people called him. How much he had grown up… Patrick was sure William wouldn't even recognize him if his father could see him now.

"Alenko, destroy that node," Shepard ordered and the lieutenant complied. Another round of screeching was heard from the Thorian and Patrick knew that even as they killed a dozen creepers, two dozen more would take their place.

The four of them sprinted up more stairs, killing creepers and shooting the nodes that- Patrick knew- would ultimately bring down the Thorian. Soon they approached the height of the Thorian's burrow and Patrick knew soon the giant creature would fall and Feros would someday be nothing, but a distant memory.

"Shit, another Asari clone," Kaidan brought everyone's attention to the green Asari who was marching towards them, dozens and dozens of creepers at her side.

"Great," Ashley groaned with a roll of her eyes, her previous confidence gone. Patrick knew that she was tired. Hell they were all exhausted. The Thorian was probably one of the most dangerous enemies they would have to face except for Sovereign, of course.

They all lifted their weapons and Shepard raised an arm to halt their fire until the creepers started screaming, racing towards the four Alliance soldiers. Bullets sprayed everywhere and Patrick switched his pistol for the sniper rifle that Kaidan had given him days ago. He took out a couple creepers, the aftershock of the shot ringing in his hears so loud that he didn't hear Shepard warn,

"She's throwing a biotic field."

Patrick lifted his head and glanced at the Commander, "Wa-"Patrick didn't finish his question due to the biotic field that slammed her into a stonewall, his head bashing against the rock.

For a moment Patrick just laid there, his eyes closed, until Ashley grabbed his arm and shouted, "Hamilton, get up! Get up now!"

Patrick felt Ashley yank him to his feet and he looked around at everyone near him. They were all blurs and even the dim light that surrounded them hurt his eyes. His blood was roaring in his ears and Patrick distantly heard Kaidan shout, "Shit, Commander, I think he's going to pass out."

"I'm fine," Patrick coughed, his voice not sounding normal at all. He reached up a touched his head, his hair coated in a thin layer of blood. The very action of lifting his hand hurt his ribs and he bent down to clench his stomach, wondering if he had broken any major bone. Despite his pain, he nodded and whispered, his voice extremely hoarse, "Let's keep moving."

"You just slammed your head into a fucking wall," Ashley explained as though Patrick was a little kid, "I think you should at least sit for a couple moments."

Patrick shook his head and opened his mouth to talk, but it was Shepard who spoke to Ashley, "He says he's fine and even if he wasn't where would we rest? In the middle of all the creepers? Sleep next to the Asari? We have to keep moving."

Ashley sighed, "You're right." She then turned to Patrick and wrapped an arm around his waist, "Lean on me. Shepard and Kaidan can cover us."

"Are you sure?" Patrick asked, feeling his legs almost give way as he tried to focus on Ashley.

He could barely see her smile as she said, "I'm just returning the favor. You watched my back on Eden Prime and if we die on this suicide mission, I don't want to have any debts."

Patrick laughed, the action hurting his side, and the group continued walking, Ashley being forced to stop every few moments to make sure Patrick was alright. He felt like shit, but he wasn't going to admit that. He wouldn't mess up the mission.

"Shit, more creepers," Kaidan suddenly called from his position up front. Patrick felt Ashley practically shove him to the ground and the sounds of battle surrounded him. Patrick closed his eyes and for a second, he passed out, but within a heartbeat Kaidan was shaking him awake, "Come on, Serviceman. Just think of a warm bed on the Normandy."

Patrick smiled weakly up at his friend and took Ashley's arm again as they all continued walking.

"There's another Thorian node," Shepard pointed out and Ashley took it out without even being asked. There was suddenly a loud roaring followed by a loud crash and Patrick smiled softly as he pictured the Thorian falling to it's death. "Well, we've got the Thorian taken care of."

"Good," Ashley grinned.

They walked for a little bit more after that and then there was nothing, but a dead end.

"Shit," Kaidan swore, but both Shepard and Patrick knew that the dead end wasn't so empty.

"Look at that thing on the wall," Shepard nodded towards a type of egg object that was being opened.

"Do we want to find out what that is?" Ashley asked, but it was too late. The violet Asari emerged.

"I'm free," She whispered as though not believing it, "I suppose I should thank you for releasing me."

Everyone's weapons were up in a heartbeat except for Patrick who knew they had nothing to fear from the Asari. She would help Shepard in ways that no one else could.

"Yes," Shepard answered cautiously, "Now just who have I freed?"

"My name is Shiala," She whispered, bowing her head to Shepard, "I am- I was a loyal servant of Matriarch Benezia."

"Shepard, if she's with Benezia then she's with Saren," Kaidan murmured.

"No," Shiala pleaded, shaking her head wildly, "I did follow Benezia and join with Saren, but after a time- after a time, you don't have a choice. You lose your will. I was nothing, but Saren's loyal servant when I came to this world. He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian and I gave him the Cipher."

"The Cipher?" Shepard asked and it was odd hearing the Commander sound so confused.

"One of you has received a Prothean vision similar to Saren's, but it is unclear to you. Having the Cipher would make it make more sense," Shiala explained, "Once Saren had what he wanted, and he ordered the Thorian to be destroyed, me along with it. He wanted to prevent you from getting the Cipher."

"The Thorian is gone now," Ashley said, "How can he get the Cipher?"

"Luckily while I was one with the Thorian, the Cipher was implanted into my own mind." Shiala answered, "I can give you the Cipher, Shepard, so you can better understand the Prothean vision."

For a second, Patrick was so absorbed in the conversation…

For a second, his pain made him forget things…

For a second, he forgot his unique place in the world…

For a second, he forgot that it wasn't Shepard who had the Prothean vision.

"Well tell us if it hurts or not, Hamilton," Shepard said with a crooked grin, resting a friendly hand on Patrick's shoulder as he nudged him towards Shiala who was looking confused,

"Saren was so sure that it was _you, _Commander Shepard, who had received the Prothean vision," Shiala said, "Saren's been ordering his followers to track down _you._"

"No I'm not that special," Shepard said with another grin, nudging Patrick forward once more.

Shiala nodded and took a step forward, placing two hands onto Patrick's shoulders and whispering, "Try to relax, Hamilton. Slow, deep breaths. Let go of your physical shell. Reach out to grab the ties that bind us, one to another." Shiala moved slightly closer, "Every action sends ripples across the galaxy, every idea must touch another mind to live, and each emotion must mark another's spirit. We are all connected. Every living being united in a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Hamilton. Embrace eternity!"

Shiala's eyes turned black and she threw her head backwards as though she was laughing. And it was then that Patrick saw the vision.

_A statue sheltered underneath the stone walls of a building…_

_Broken machines…_

_Real machines… were destroying Protheans…_

_Sovereign…_

_Illos…_

Patrick opened his eyes to find Shiala staring at him with wide, scared eyes.

"What?" She whispered, backing away slowly, "That… that's impossible."

Patrick froze with understanding. As well as seeing the Prothean vision that was burned in his mind, Shiala would have also seen all his past memories… she would know that he wasn't from their world.

"Please Shiala," He whispered, glancing nervously at Shepard and his crew.

Shiala nodded in understanding. As well as seeing the truth, she would know that he wanted to keep it secret from Shepard and the others. At least for the time being. Patrick bowed his head and whispered, "Thank you."

Shiala seemed to compose herself and she continued on as though nothing had happened, "I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now."

"Are you alright?" Kaidan asked, taking a step forward, "What happened?"

Patrick turned to look at the lieutenant. Out of everyone on Shepard's crew, the already suspicious Kaidan Alenko was the last one Patrick wanted to know the truth. If Kaidan were to find out, by himself, then his loyalty to Shepard and the Alliance would force him to tell the truth.

"I saw… I still don't know what I saw. It didn't make any sense still," Patrick lied.

"You have been given a great gift," Shiala added, "The experience of an entire people. It will take time for your mind to process this information."

"We should get you back to the ship, Serviceman," Ashley whispered, "Medical needs to know about this."

"I am sorry if you have suffered, but it was the only way," Shiala whispered, "You needed the Cipher. In time, it will help you understand the vision from the beacon."

"Now that you are free of the Thorian, what are you planning on doing next?" Shepard asked curiously.

"If you allow it, I would like to stay here with the colonists," Shiala answered, "They have suffered generally, and I played a role in their suffering. I would like to make amends."

"The colonists need all the help they can get," Shepard said with a nod, "They'll be happy to have you on their side."

Patrick nodded and the action made him remember the pain that he had been experiencing before receiving the Cipher. The pain came roaring back and the last thing he heard before passing out was everyone shouting his name.

**Author's Note: **Oh my god. God awful chapter. I wrote this one three times (hence the delay) but I was never satisfied with it. Ah well. What can you do? Please review.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

_Truth Be Told_

**Author's Note: **In a lot of your reviews, you told me that you expected a much bigger reaction from Shelia, but truth be told, I didn't want to have the same thing happen two chapters in a row. Yes. Patrick's secret will be revealed in this chapter, but only to a special two. Any guesses on who they might be? I've been dropping hints now to reveal their identities so maybe you'll get them right… or maybe not. Anyway please read and review.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Mass Effect… yet.

* * *

Black, cold darkness… that was all Patrick could see. His whole body felt numb and as he tried to open his eyes, he felt as though there was a heavy weight being pressed onto his face. His long, spider-like fingers were pressed against a giant slab of metal and the air smelled faintly of morphine and the distant rusty-scent of dried blood. For a moment, Patrick forgot about where he was and all that had happened. For a moment, Patrick thought he was sleeping on his bed back in the real world and the adventures he had had were nothing more than a fantastic dream. A dream (or nightmare on some days) that hadn't ended yet. As he heard the ping of a bell and a door sliding open, Patrick realized he was in the Normandy's medical bay.

Patrick's eyes still wouldn't obey him, but as he struggled to move around, he realized he was regaining feeling in his arms and managed to push himself up, blindly fumbling for the edge of the bed. It was then that two strong, warm arms pushed him back down, his head resting on a damp towel that he hadn't noticed before. Patrick felt the tip of a syringe press against his sensitive skin before breaking the skin, injecting something (probably more medication) into the young Serviceman. Patrick struggled with discomfort and the pair of strong hands kept him still, their voice low and gruff, "Stop moving, Hamilton. This will help you in the long run."

Patrick's mind tried to recognize the voice, but when he was on the verge of grasping it, sleep dragged him back into her warm arms.

* * *

A door opened and Patrick opened his eyes rather quickly, for a moment confused as to where he was before his memories returned: _Feros, the colonists, the Thorian, Shelia. _His body was bruised and his muscles had an odd jelly-like feeling to them yet he found he could move and he pushed himself off the bed, his feet touching the floor and giving his head a light weight feeling. It was just his head though. Everything thing felt different as though he had been put into a new body while he slept. Nothing was familiar and Patrick had to think hard just to move his hand. He had gotten a head injury, though. Perhaps this was merely a side effect. Patrick knew that Doctor Chakwas could have him up and ready for more fights in no time.

"You certainly recover fast," Patrick jumped at a voice and then beat himself over the head for not remembering the sound of the door opening. He had completely forgotten that he wasn't alone. He turned around to where Tali was leaning against the medical bay wall, her stance casual and by her earlier comment, Patrick could almost see her smiling through her mask. She pushed up from the wall and slowly made her way towards him, Patrick's eyes never leaving her. "The doctor was certain that you would be unconscious for the next several hours. She'll be happy to know that she was wrong."

"I feel good," Patrick said with a small smile, not mentioning how he felt like he was possessing the wrong body, "Better than I have felt in a long time actually." Patrick then looked around and the two of them sat in a comfortable silence. While most people loathed silence, Patrick was a solitude creature at heart and with his knowledge of Quarians (how they rarely left the Flotilla except for when they embarked on their Pilgrimage), he suspected that Tali felt comfortable in the silence as well. Patrick turned to Tali and was wondering what she was looking at. The helmet could be a real bother sometimes although he suspected she hated it more than he did. "So how long have I been out?"

"Twenty-five hours although you woke up about two hours ago when Kaidan was watching you. However, he said you passed out almost immediately," Tali answered and as though she sensed Patrick's confusion at her words (sometimes he felt like she knew him better than he knew himself), explained, her voice calm and soothing and Patrick wondered yet again what was hiding behind her mask, "We all were taking shifts with you since the Doctor was to busy dealing with Wrex to fully stand watch over you. Your body was fine, physically at least. We were just waiting for your mind to wake up."

"What happened to Wrex?" Patrick asked. What had happened while he had been unconscious? Had Shepard and the others already went to Virmire? Did Wrex betray Shepard or did the two just get in a usual warrior brawl that was common for Krogans? And if they did go to Virmire then what happened to either Kaidan or Ashley. Tali had mentioned that Kaidan had been watching him two hours ago when he woke up (he had no recollection of doing such a thing) so did that mean that Ashley, one of his best friends on the Normandy, was… dead? Before he completely freaked out, Patrick decided to give Tali a chance to explain.

"Wrex asked Shepard to help him retrieve his family's armor," Tali explained and Patrick exhaled in relief. Of course, Shepard must have gone on Wrex's infamous side quest. "There had been a firefight in the place where Wrex's armor had been kept and he took a couple bad hits. He's fine though. Shepard just told him to take an easy and perhaps not to threaten anyone for a little bit." Tali paused and Patrick could almost see her smiling, "Wrex has found a loophole though. While he may not be moving his shoulder as much which makes it impossible to give the crew any obscene gestures, he and Chief Williams had a pretty fiery chat about the best type of weapon. I swear I thought the Chief was going to shoot him, but Garrus managed to break up the fight."

Patrick laughed and Tali joined him, her light giggle in perfect harmony with his deep chuckle yet she sobered up, an aura of anxiety surrounding her. Tali may know him better than anyone on the crew, but Patrick could say the same thing. He may not be able to see her eyes (the window into her soul), but he was good at reading body language and could tell that something was troubling her. He took a step closer, shortening the distance between them until they were a little less than seven inches apart before asking, his voice worried, "Are you alright, Tali?"

"I'm…" Tali was cut off as the medical bay door slid open once again, this time revealing Kaidan and Liara, talking together in hushed tones until they realized that Patrick and Tali had noticed their arrival. They all stood there in a silence (uncomfortable compared to the calm silence Patrick and Tali had shared moments before) until Liara took a step closer to the human and the Quarian, her expression slightly anxious as she asked,

"How are you feeling, Serviceman?"

"I'm fine. Thank you, Liara," Patrick responded with a tiny nod, slightly annoyed at the beautiful Asari for stopping Tali from saying whatever she wanted to say. The Serviceman then turned to Kaidan and gave the lieutenant a respectful nod, remembering what Tali told him, "Tali said you sat with me while I was unconscious. Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Anytime, Serviceman," Kaidan returned Patrick's nod before turning his attention onto Tali, "Tali, would you mind giving us a minute alone with Hamilton? We have something we need to discuss." Patrick's eyes narrowed slightly at this. Why did they need to discuss? What couldn't be discussed in front of Tali?

"Of course, Lieutenant Alenko," Tali said politely, turning to Patrick as she left, "I'll talk to you later, Serviceman."

As she left, Liara turned to Patrick and asked, "Are you sure you are alright, Serviceman?"

"I'm fine," Patrick reassured the Asari while Kaidan added,

"You don't feel strange?" Kaidan pressed and Patrick stared at him evenly, wondering if he was referring to the odd feeling he was getting. Like he didn't belong in his own body… but what would the lieutenant know about that? Patrick shook his head and Kaidan nodded, "Okay. Well, there is something I want to talk to you about. It's… something I've been thinking about for quite some time now. I would appreciate if we kept this between the three of us and not mention it to the Commander or Tali."

"Okay shoot," Patrick said calmly, but on the inside he was trembling with nerves. _They know… they know…_

"I have done some research on Eden Prime for the Alliance to help them get a complete list of the deceased in case there are any bodies that have yet to be found. To do this, Captain Anderson asked me to look at a complete list of everyone who was legally registered to be on Eden Prime. Chief Williams's name was on the list," Kaidan paused and Patrick knew what he was going to say before he did, "However, yours was not." Kaidan took a couple steps closer to Patrick and the Serviceman was surprised when his instinct made him back away from the approaching lieutenant. "So there are two options: either you were on Eden Prime illegally or you lied about living there at all. You may have been just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Like you fell from the sky…"

"I have nothing to hide," Patrick snapped firmly, surprised his voice was so calm. He felt as though he was about to pass out…

"Then there is one thing I would like to ask of you," Kaidan continued, "When we met Shelia on Feros, she gave you the Cipher. You saw a glimpse of her mind and she also saw a glimpse into yours and whatever she saw bothered her." Patrick already knew where Kaidan was going with everything and was not surprised when the lieutenant added, "Any Asari can join their mind with someone of their choosing. Shelia wasn't the only one. That's why I asked Liara if she would meld minds with you. After all," Kaidan stared Patrick straight in the eye, "You have nothing to hide, right?"

"Of course not," Patrick whispered, his tone hoarse as though he was struggling to breathe which he was. He just didn't think Kaidan or Liara noticed. "Connect our minds, Liara."

Liara nodded and took a step closer to Patrick, placing her hands on his neck, "I want you to do the same thing Shelia asked of you. Close your eyes… clear your mind… open yourself to the universe… embrace eternity!" Liara's eyes glowed black and memories flashed by Patrick as though he was watching a film: _his father and his mother's joy when Lily came home from the hospital, Joseph and Holden picking on him, his mother's death, his father's anti-social behavior, finding Mass Effect at a store with Commander Shepard on the cover, playing the game, eventually be transported into the game, receiving the Prothean vision. _Patrick felt as though he had been flung backwards and fell roughly against the medical bay bed while Liara stumbled into Kaidan's open arms, mumbling, "Impossible. It is… it is completely impossible, but it is true." Liara locked eyes with Patrick, "Not even we, Asari, can lie through our memories. Strange as it is, you are telling the truth." Liara stared at Patrick, "It is amazing. No one, not even the Asari who have been around for centuries, have seen something like this. You are truly unique, Serviceman." Patrick was actually shocked by Liara's reaction. If she was taking it so calmly… would everyone else?

"What is it? What did you see?" Kaidan demanded and Liara turned to look at the lieutenant, Patrick noticing that her eyes kept darting back to him. _She doesn't trust me anymore, _he realized.

"Patrick is not from Eden Prime, like you suspected Lieutenant Alenko. He is not from our world," Liara's eyes locked once more with Patrick's and he knew that no matter what he said, she would tell Kaidan the truth, "He is not even from our dimension."

"What does that mean?" Kaidan demanded again before rounding on Patrick, "Who _are_ you?"

Patrick took a deep breath, "You better sit down, Lieutenant. This isn't something you hear everyday." Nobody moved so Patrick sighed and began to explain everything, "My name is Patrick Hamilton. I did not lie about that even though everything else has been a lie. I was born on Earth, that again wasn't a lie, but I was born on Earth during the year 1987 in a state known as New Jersey. In my world, your whole universe is, but a game, a digital game that I played with you and everyone being nothing, but pixels on a screen. Then some how I journeyed here into the Mass Effect dimension (**A/N: **title… hehe… okay back to the story) during the Eden Prime attack. I enlisted myself into Shepard's crew and here I am now."

"Impossible!" Kaidan practically shouted in Patrick's face, "You're lying."

"He is not lying, Lieutenant Alenko," Liara rested a calm hand on Kaidan's shoulder, "I have seen his memories. He is telling the truth. In his world… in his dimension… we do not exist. We are nothing more then pixels on a screen."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Kaidan asked her, his tone calmer then before, "You are okay with knowing that you don't really exist? That you aren't real? That none of this is real?" Kaidan slammed a fist into the wall.

"I am calm about this because I see the truth and I know that it is the truth so instead of wasting time and energy shouting about it, I have chosen to accept it," Liara said calmly, "I cannot change it regardless of my feelings."

"So none of this matters?" Kaidan whispered, "All these people… every member of Shepard's crew. It doesn't matter if we live or die. Someone will just reset the game. There is no point to life."

"No," Patrick rounded on Kaidan, his tone furious, "Whatever you may be in my dimension, you are real in yours and you have got to beat Saren and the Reapers. Shepard can't do it alone."

"Again he speaks the truth," Liara sided with Patrick, "Lieutenant Alenko, if you saw Commander Shepard or Chief Williams in trouble would you let them die?" Kaidan stared at her and shook his head slowly, "Of course not because even if we are not real, we are still friends and we cannot let each other down."

Kaidan nodded slowly, "So, Hamilton, what's keeping me from telling Shepard about this?"

Patrick shrugged, "You can if you want, but I think you might need me in the future. You think Fist was bad? Or the Thorian? Nothing is compared to the horrors that have yet to come. I know what happens at the end of all of this. I know things that Saren doesn't know, that not even Commander Shepard know. Face it, you need me."

"What happens in the future, Hamilton?" Kaidan asked, but Patrick shook his head,

"If I tell you, it risks a chance of things changing. Therefore putting the fate of the galaxy at risk since we would be journeying into the unknown," Patrick answered, "By merely confronting me about all this, something might have changed, but there is something I will tell you because I would want someone to tell me." Patrick walked close to Kaidan and rested a calm hand on the lieutenant, he wasn't sure if his next words would be a mistake or not, but he had a feeling that Alenko should know about Virmire… about the bomb… and about the call that Shepard would have to make that would change the course of the game… no not game… everyone's lives forever. It was a secret that could shake Kaidan's courage, but Patrick had a feeling that the lieutenant who was perhaps one of the bravest men he knew, would be able to cope with the secret.

"Lieutenant, on a planet known as Virmire, either you or Chief Williams has a chance of dying."

The lieutenant stared at Patrick as though not comprehending and Patrick thought he was on the verge of saying something and then… Kaidan blacked out, leaving Patrick and Liara to try and catch him, both of them struggling under his weight. Liara wasn't the strongest member of the crew and while he felt fine, Patrick's injuries did prevent him from using all of his strength. Patrick heaved Kaidan on the medical bay bed and stared at him.

_Well that could have gone better… then again… it could have probably gone worse._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay I know this was like my shortest chapter of all time, but I promise you the next one will be really, really long. This one was mainly short because I didn't want to start Noveria just yet so I basically just made the chapter all about Kaidan and Liara finding out Patrick's secret. I didn't even plan to have Tali in there so that was a nice little bonus. Oh and about the opening few paragraphs when Patrick regains consciousness before blacking out again do have a purpose. Just not yet and they probably won't come into play for awhile, but keep them in your mind!


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

_Noveria _

**Author's Note: **Not much to say other than this chapter will not follow the typical Noveria storyline and there will be some laughs coming up. That's my plan as of right now, but we know that can change. Also completely not canon! So please read and review. I promise this chapter will be longer then the previous one.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Mass Effect.

* * *

"Commander, I feel fine," Patrick snapped, glaring at Shepard with pale eyes while Wrex huffed angrily from behind the Serviceman's shoulder. Their anger and annoyance at Shepard had led them to put aside their petty arguments since both of them were quarreling with the Commander. The quarrel had started between Patrick and Shepard several hours ago when the Commander had ordered him to stay on the ship while everyone else went to Noveria since he was still injured from his last time off the ship. Wrex had jeered at Patrick, supporting Shepard's decision fully until he realized his own injuries prevented him from leaving the ship. Thus the small war between the two humans and the Krogan had begun and it probably wouldn't end until one side gave up. "It's been two days since Feros and I've been preparing for Noveria as much as any member of this crew! I have every right to go on this mission!"

"We, Krogan have the ability to regenerate health and our wounds heal within hours," Wrex growled at Shepard, "You, humans may have soft shells for skin, but it takes a lot more to get a Krogan to sit out on a mission. We fight until we die, Shepard."

"No one is dying as long as I'm in charge, Wrex," Shepard snapped, "I've spoken to Doctor Chakwas about both of your cases and she has advised me to keep you both on the ship until she clears you and she is the boss when it comes to these matters."

"What does a _human _doctor know about a Krogan's body?" Wrex snarled, "She doesn't impress me just because she has read some books about my species. She hasn't ever cut open a Krogan or a Quarian or an Asari! She doesn't know anything!"

"Doctor Chakwas has taken intense courses on Alien physiology. It was a course recommended for all Alliance physicians," Shepard answered calmly, crossing his arms across his chest. "And you weren't so picky about her skills when you lay bleeding in the med bay, practically begging for her patch you up. You would have died if it had not been for her."

"I would have rather died then be in debt to a human," Wrex growled before walking over to Shepard and shoving him out of the way as he headed over to his usual post, "You think you can relate to the Krogan because you possess strength Shepard, but you know nothing of our way of life. We would rather die then accept help from the enemy."

"I'm not your enemy, Wrex," Shepard called, but Wrex merely shrugged his shoulders, leaving Patrick alone with the Commander who sighed, shaking his head slightly, "I think the Normandy is too small for a Krogan. He needs space to get out his anger without harming anyone and without making a scene in front of half the crew. Will you keep an eye on him, Serviceman?"

"Sure since I'm on ship arrest," Patrick snapped, glaring at Shepard. The Commander was acting just like Patrick's father. William never believed in him either despite Patrick's hard efforts to prove himself. "I'll probably get bored anyway so I'll have to antagonize Wrex for fun. Maybe shoot up the entire cargo hold."

Shepard sighed and rolled his eyes, leaving Patrick alone by the mess hall, glaring at his Commander's retreating back as he left to talk to Liara who was one of the lucky crew members. She had been selected to go to Noveria and while Patrick fully respected Liara's skills in combat, he wondered how she would react to killing her mother. In the game, she had been distraught, but that was it. The game had gotten a lot of things wrong so far. Patrick was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice another figure approach him until Tali'Zorah coughed, "Hello Patrick."

"Hey Tali," Patrick turned to face Tali who coughed again, something that Quarians rarely did. With their environmental suits, Quarians got colds as often as you saw a Krogan scientist. Instantly the air around them shifted as Patrick realized that something was wrong. "Are you okay? I don't think I've ever seen you sick before."

"I'm fine," Tali answered and even through her mask, Patrick could see her failed attempt of a smile. "I was just a little lazy when I cleaned my suit and some bacteria got in. I should be fine after I take a little more antibiotics."

"Are sure?" Patrick asked, concerned and he rested a gentle hand on Tali's shoulder, feeling the Quarian tense under his fingers. "I could go and get Doctor Chakwas if you want her to take a look at you."

"Who do you think gave me the antibiotics?" Tali's voice was playful as she nudged Patrick, her elbow hitting his chest softly, "Anyway Shepard told me to stay on the ship until I felt better. He said that you and Wrex were going to be staying too."

"Sadly that's true," Patrick sighed, "I would give anything to see Noveria though. Who knows if I'll ever be here again?"

"I'll make you a promise, Serviceman," Tali laughed, "When this whole Saren mess is done with, when and if we ever get our lives back, we come here for a vacation? I wouldn't mind extending my Pilgrimage for a little bit longer."

"I might just take you up on that offer, Tali," Patrick grinned, but his smile weakened as he realized that he might not even be there to enjoy the aftermath of Saren's defeat. Would he be home by then, comfortably sitting in his recliner without a care in the world? Or would he be enlisting to join Shepard's crew permanently? Patrick didn't know. At the moment, he didn't even know which choice her preferred. He used to give anything to go home, but the more time he spent away from Jersey and the more time he spent with Tali, Shepard, and the others, the more he felt like the Normandy was the place he was meant to be.

"Ugh!" Patrick and Tali both turned to face Ashley who was walking towards them, an annoyed expression on her face. "Guess what I just found out?"

"Sorry, Ash, but I'm really bad at this game," Patrick grinned, but his humor did nothing to improve Ashley's mood, "Okay. What?"

"John, Vakarian, and Liara are the only ones who are allowed to go on Noveria," Ashley fumed, "He wants the rest of us to wait on board until they all return." Ashley stared at them, waiting for a reaction, but when she got nothing, placed her hands on her hips and snapped, "Why don't you two seem as annoyed as me?"

"Well, we knew," Patrick answered simply, "Shepard ordered me and Wrex to stay aboard the Normandy because of our injuries. He also told Tali to stay because she has a cold."

"What does he think we're going to be doing?" Ashley snapped, "Getting into bar fights? Following him to help them take out Matriarch Benezia? Honestly, I just want to get a simple drink in between fighting Geth and hunting for Saren."

"I hear ya," Patrick grinned, "But what can we do?"

A wicked look suddenly crossed Ashley's face, "Anyway up for disobeying your commanding officer?"

* * *

"Another round of drinks," Ashley raised her hand to their waitress, an attractive Asari, as everyone finished their first glasses. It had been two hours since Shepard had left the Normandy and the rest of the crew had waited an hour before living the ship, imaging that instead of disobeying their Commander, they were on their shore leave. Patrick sat in between Tali and Ashley, Wrex and Joker on the other side of the table. At another table a couple feet away were Navigator Pressley, Engineer Adams, Doctor Chakwas, and Kaidan who still seemed a little bit nervous about ignoring Shepard's orders.

"I'm actually impressed," Wrex growled, all sound of aggression gone from his voice as he nodded at Patrick, Ashley, and Joker, "You humans drink a lot for such small creatures."

"You haven't seen anything," Joker laughed, "Honestly if I didn't have to pilot the ship in a couple hours, I'd probably be on the bar counter with my shirt off. Hell, I'd probably do it anyway if I knew that the Commander wouldn't be pissed as hell."

Patrick stared at Joker and grinned, "Remind me never to go heavy drinking with you."

"Hell no, Hamilton," Joker chuckled, "When all this Saren shit is over, all of us, even if we have to kidnap Shepard, are going to the Citadel to cause some hell. No one should care, considering we saved their asses from the Reapers!"

"If we save their asses from the Reapers," Tali commented, "We haven't won yet."

"Damn, you brought down my mood," Joker laughed, grinning at Tali, "Eh, I can't really be angry at you though. You and Adams take great care of my baby so because of that I'm forever in your debt."

"Are you talking about me, Joker?" Adams called from the other table.

"Yeah, how you're a lazy piece of…" Joker began, but the Asari waitress cut him off,

"Here are your drinks, Ms. Williams."

"Thanks," Ashley nodded to the Asari before passing out the drinks to everyone, raising her glass, "To having the balls to disobey John Shepard, our Commander and a damn fine man… when he loosens up of course."

Everyone laughed until Wrex raised his own glass (which was like a mug compared to the tiny shot glasses everyone else was using), "To comrades! I may hate most of you and want to kill you all as soon as I leave Shepard's crew, but you are tougher than most humans I've seen. Some of you at least…"

"I don't know whether to be grateful or hurt," Joker laughed before raising his glass, "To being in love." Everyone stared at Joker who shook his head, chuckling loudly, "I'm married to the Normandy in case you guys haven't noticed."

"Okay to the happy couple," Patrick grinned, "And to being alive today when we may not be alive tomorrow."

"Cheers," Tali laughed and they all drank deeply.

Suddenly a gun shot went off and automatically, every member of Shepard's crew got to their feet, reaching for guns that were gone from their holsters. Ashley looked around, wildly, "Shit. What was that?"

"Probably just some drunken Turians fighting," Joker commented.

"Damn, I'd love to get in on the action," Wrex growled, "I knew I shouldn't have left my shotgun on the ship."

"Remember, we're trying to lay low," Tali advised.

"Obviously Saren isn't doing the same thing," Patrick snapped and everyone followed his gaze towards a dozen geth troopers who were storming into the bar.

"Shit," Joker swore and Patrick was about to agree until the pilot added, "I wanted to finish my drink."

* * *

"Okay, everyone get back onto the ship," Ashley shouted, helping Joker into his seat as the rest of the crew filed in, everyone except for Kaidan and Wrex who were still at the bar, trying to hold off the geth. While the guns were still locked up on the ship, Kaidan and Wrex had their biotics which would give the rest of the team time to retrieve the weapons. "Tali go to the lockers and grab everything! Adams, help her!"

"Chief, there is a message coming in from Shepard," The informality that had been present when everyone was at the bar was gone from Joker's voice as he turned to Ashley.

"This day couldn't get any better. He probably knows we ignored his orders," Ashley muttered, "Okay Joker, patch him through."

"Normandy to ground team… Normandy to ground team… Shepard?" Joker asked, pulling up a hologram of Shepard who had his rifle out and was firing at an unseen enemy before turning to face the crew,

"Joker, you need to get out here! Matriarch Benezia is here with nearly five dozen geth troopers and dozens of Asari Commandos. Not to mention the racni. Garrus was shot and wounded badly and we need assistance!"

_Garrus was shot? Was he…? _

"I can be there in a heartbeat, Commander, just send me your coordinates," Joker nodded and Patrick opened his mouth to explain to Shepard about the situation Kaidan and Wrex were in, but Ashley jabbed him in the stomach.

"See you soon, skipper," Ashley turned off the com before turning to face Patrick, "Unless we want to get our asses kicked off the ship, I say we don't tell Shepard about everything that is going on. Hamilton, the rest of us are going to help Shepard. I want you to take Kaidan and Wrex's weapons to them and help them!"

"Is Shepard going to be curious about why half of his crew is missing?" Joker asked.

"Do you have a better idea, Jeff?" Ashley snapped, "We'll be back as soon as we can, Hamilton. Try and just hold off the geth until we can come back with reinforcements."

"Hamilton, here's you, Alenko, and Wrex's weapons," Adams handed Patrick the two pistols and the giant Krogan shotgun.

"Thank you, Adams," Patrick nodded before giving Ashley a curt dip of the head, "See you soon."

As he turned to leave, Tali stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Be careful, Hamilton."

"I'll use the same caution I use everyday," Patrick smiled softly.

"I think that's what scares me," Tali's words were slow and the two of them stared at each other for a second longer before Patrick exited the ship and the Normandy took off, racing to save its beloved Commander.

* * *

Trashed?

Patrick didn't know the meaning of the word until he stepped into the Noverian bar. Tables were overturned and chairs were broken, making Patrick remember his college parties during his brief law career. However the parties at school could never compare to the destruction on Noveria. Especially due to the black marks on the wall that could only be caused by a geth rifle. The worst part though was that there was no sign of any geth anywhere. Scratch that. The worst part was that there was no sign of Kaidan and Wrex _anywhere_. Patrick could decide if that was better than there being bodies.

"Kaidan? Wrex?" Patrick whispered, taking out his pistol while making sure that Kaidan and Wrex's weapons were still secured tightly on his own body. "Anybody?"

"Shit, human, get down," Patrick barely had time to react when he felt his body be slammed to the ground by a biotic force while two shots were fired where his head had been moments before. Patrick quickly got to his knees; ignoring his aching body… maybe Shepard was right. Maybe he should have stayed on the Normandy with everyone else.

"Wrex?" Patrick called softly and he spotted the Krogan ducking behind an overturned table, making his way over to the alien quickly, hearing the geth fire off a few more shots. "Shit, Wrex, what happened? And where's Kaidan?"

"I'm over here," Kaidan leaned over from the other side of Wrex, smirking slightly, "Glad to know you were worried about me."

"Did you bring the weapons?" Wrex asked and Patrick nodded, quickly handing over Kaidan's pistol and Wrex's shotgun. Wrex chuckled deeply, "It's going to get fun now."

"Thank you," Kaidan nodded as he took his pistol from Patrick, "Biotics are useful and all, but try attacking a whole squad of geth with just your hands?"

Wrex lifted up his shotgun and stood up slightly, "There's still about half a dozen left. I say we just charge in shooting."

"And risk getting shot by the geth?" Kaidan asked an eyebrow raised.

"Or worse… risk getting shot by _you_?" Patrick added, staring at Wrex.

"Do you have a better plan?" Wrex snarled, black eyes glaring at Patrick who for once didn't care about the Krogan. Right now, they just had to deal with the geth and return to the dock when Joker flew the Normandy in.

Kaidan sighed, "Sadly he's right. We _don't_ have a better plan."

"Excellent," Wrex chuckled, but it sounded more like a growl, his lips drawn into a snarl, "Follow my lead. I'm going to show you how a _real_ warrior takes out his enemies."

Patrick nodded and as soon as Wrex stood up, Patrick jumped to his feet, pulling himself over the table so he was left unguarded. The geth turned to stare at him, their bright heads flashing with interest, and one raised a rifle.

_Shit, Wrex. You said follow _your_ lead. Why am _I_ up front?_

However before the geth could even pull the trigger, Kaidan shot it quickly and its gray body crumbled to the ground. Kaidan turned to look at Patrick and Wrex, nodding before shouting, "Let's move!"

"I wanted the first shot, human," Wrex snarled, running forward as he pulled a shotgun to a geth's head, giving a loud chuckle as its head detached itself from its body.

"You should have been faster then," Kaidan snapped, taking down another geth with a nice, clean shot.

Patrick followed his comrades' lead and grinned as he watched a geth fall because of his hand. Despite having spent so many days aboard the Normandy, he was still amazed at the life he was leading now. He couldn't believe that he was holding a _real_ pistol and he was standing on a _real_ battlefield. He couldn't believe he had just taken out a _real_ geth.

Within seconds, the combined efforts of the two humans and the krogan destroyed what remained of the geth forces although Patrick suspected there were many more still on Noveria. That made Patrick think about Garrus who was wounded and how that hadn't happened in the game. Had they even fought Matriarch Benezia? Or was Liara's mother still on the planet, waiting to return to Saren and tell him that Shepard knew what he was up to?

"That looks like its all of them," Kaidan nodded with satisfaction, "Good job, team."

"Who died and made you Commander?" Wrex growled, "Let's just get back to the Normandy. I'm in the mood to argue with Williams. I'm up for another fight."

"I hope they're back," Patrick mused softly and Kaidan turned to stare at him, an eyebrow raised,

"_Back_? What do you mean back? Where's the ship?"

"Shepard ran into some trouble," Patrick explained, "Garrus got hurt and Shepard called in Joker to come and pick them up. Chief Williams sent me to help you two and then to meet them back on the docking bay."

"So Shepard knows we went out for a drink?" Kaidan asked and Patrick nodded.

"_Shit._"

* * *

"Honestly, I can't believe you would all disobey my orders," Patrick winced as he heard Shepard rounding on the crew while the Serviceman, Lieutenant, and krogan were all hovering in the airlock, hoping that Shepard's anger would die down before they had to reveal themselves.

"Okay, we apologized, Shepard, but you have to listen to us," Patrick heard Ashley protest, "Alenko, Hamilton, and Wrex are in the middle of a geth fight and they still aren't back yet. They need our help!"

"I wish there was some way we could tell her without telling Shepard yet," Patrick muttered, under his breath.

"Ha. I don't," Wrex chuckled, "I love watching a human squirm."

"I don't think the geth are their biggest concern," Shepard snapped, "Right, you three? Isn't that why you are hiding in the airlock?"

"Damn," Kaidan muttered, casting a swift glance in Patrick and Wrex's direction, "I blame you two."

Patrick was the first to walk out, followed by Kaidan and Wrex, all of them- even Wrex- flinching slightly at Shepard's icy blue eyes. Shepard was pissed… pissed enough to make a _krogan_ nervous.

"Honestly, what were you all thinking?" Shepard snapped.

"Well, we were thinking about how much of an ass you were being," Wrex began and Patrick felt his eyes widen, instantly feeling like Shepard's son and Wrex was his big brother ratting him out. "So we decided to disobey your orders and get wasted. I'll be in my usual place if you want to see me." And with that Wrex walked away, leaving Patrick to wish he had the same cool as the krogan.

Shepard sighed, running a pale hand through his short brown hair, "I'm getting too old to baby sit." Shepard sighed again and Patrick stared at him, realizing how much the game left out. The game never talked about how Patrick was approaching his mid-thirties yet he was still running around saving the world. The game never showed Shepard being tired. Who wanted an older hero? "Anyway, I guess I need to give a brief summary of what happened with Garrus, Liara, and me."

"Is Garrus alright?" Patrick asked without even thinking.

Shepard nodded, "He suffered some major wounds and was bleeding internally for a little bit, but he will survive. I just… I don't know if we will fight beside him anymore."

"What are you saying?" Kaidan asked, his wounds coming out sharper than he probably intended them to.

"I think that I'm going to talk to Garrus and see if he would want to return to the Citadel," Shepard sighed before continuing, "But anyway we ran into Matriarch Benezia and we…"

"She's dead." Patrick whispered. It was more of a statement then a question especially since Patrick knew what happened.

Shepard nodded.

"Poor Liara," Kaidan whispered, "She's just a kid."

"Things are going to be hard on everyone especially her," Shepard sighed, but then straightened up, "But also while we were flying to retrieve you three, I got a message from the Council. Apparently a planet is being attacked and they want us to check it out."

Patrick felt his stomach drop and for a minute thought he was going to be sick.

Not Virmire…

He wasn't ready…

He wasn't ready to say goodbye to two of his friends…

He wasn't ready to face Saren for the first time…

He wasn't ready because after Virmire came Illos…

And after Illos came Sovereign.

"What's the name of the planet?" Ashley asked Shepard.

Virmire.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Okay I know it was another short chapter, but my muse has been really low lately and I wanted to get out a chapter while I had time. I've been really busy with school and I might be moving soon so I've been having trouble there. Hopefully, I'll have more time soon so my chapters will get a lot better. Please review. Jordyn.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

_Virmire _

**Author's Note: **Well here it is! A chapter that I have been planning for awhile that will basically start leading this story to its ending. Will Wrex stay loyal to Shepard? Will Ashley survive? Will Kaidan survive? Will they _both_ survive? Or will they both perish? And how will Virmire be different with Patrick a part of the team? Will he finally find a way to return home? Or will he decline the opportunity and choose to live the life he had always dreamt about? The answers to these questions will be answered. Note that this mission may be put into two so be patient with me. So please review.

* * *

Patrick sat in the mess, his fingers trailing over the grip of his pistol and he remembered the first time he had held the weapon, his long fingers had been clumsy and he was just as likely to shoot Shepard as he was a geth. Now the pistol had become a part of him and despite not being as skilled as Kaidan or Ashley, he could still pull off a couple of remarkable shots.

Patrick's eyes wandered around the walls of the Normandy, a place that he had once known about, but never imagined that he would one day actually see. The advanced ship had become a second home to him and the nights that he used to be unable to sleep due to the fact that he worried about his family were long since behind him. He still thought of his father and his siblings occasionally, but after spending weeks away from them, he began to miss them less and less just like they probably had called off a search to look for him. They had probably moved on as did Patrick and that scared him. If he ever got the option to go home would he? Or would he choose to stay under Shepard's control and live the life he had always dreamed about?

Patrick sighed before standing up and sheathing his pistol, deciding that he wouldn't trouble himself with thoughts of events that were most likely never going to happen. What were the chances of returning to the real world? He had decided a long time ago that he couldn't go the way he came. There was no other way to return home so whether he liked it or not, he was probably going to remain on the Normandy for the rest of his life.

"Hamilton?" Patrick jumped as someone said his name, realizing for the first time how deep in thought he was. The young Serviceman turned to face Kaidan who had walked up next to him during Patrick's debating thoughts. "I was wondering if I could have a word with you regarding Virmire." Patrick nodded, but said nothing and Kaidan apparently took this as a sign to continue, "I'm scared, Hamilton. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't."

"Are you scared about facing Saren?" Patrick asked even though he knew that was not what was troubling Kaidan.

The lieutenant gave a small chuckle, "I think most of the crew is probably nervous about facing Saren, but we all have prepared ourselves mentally for him. We all knew that before this war was over, Shepard would have to fight him as would his crew, but no." Kaidan shook his head, "While Saren's ambition could give some of the crew nightmares, it is not why I'm worried about Virmire. I can't stop thinking about what you said… about how either the Chief or I won't be coming off the planet alive."

"That's only what happened in my dimension," Patrick explained, "Things could be different here." There was silence for a couple seconds and Patrick sighed, "Maybe I shouldn't have told you what I knew…"

"No, no, I'm glad you told me," Kaidan sighed before turning to look at Patrick, something burning in his amber eyes, "I'm glad you told me because now I can do my best to ensure Ash's survival." Kaidan turned away, staring at the silver walls of the Normandy. "Even if it means that I won't be returning to this ship alive."

"LT," Patrick snapped, "Don't think about sacrificing yourself just because I _think_ someone is going to die. It may have happened in my world, but hell something happened here that definitely didn't happen at home."

"What?" Kaidan asked, an eyebrow raised.

"The Normandy crew in my world didn't have me," Patrick smirked, "And I know when everything is going to happen and if Virmire progresses in the similar way it did in my world, I know how to avoid it. I can do my best to make sure that everyone who is a part of this crew survives. I'm not going to lose a friend today nor will I lose one tomorrow."

"There's one thing you didn't think about, Hamilton," Kaidan said.

"What?" Patrick asked, sounding like Kaidan moments ago.

"You said that you weren't a part of the Normandy in your dimension and while you may know what happens to me and Williams and Shepard, you don't know what happens to you," Kaidan said, "And you're too young. You shouldn't even be fighting, but you are, but you sure as hell aren't dying. Not while I'm around. You _will_ return to your world."

"And you will return to yours," A new voice spoke up and both Patrick and Kaidan turned, smiling softly, as Liara made her way towards them, a knowing glint in her sapphire eyes. When she reached them, she rested a calm hand on Kaidan's shoulder, smiling, "You are both forgetting that you two are not the only ones who know everything. I do too and I am not going to lose either of you. Lieutenant, you will return to your Earth and Serviceman, you will return to yours." Liara paused, thoughtful for a moment, "Wherever your Earth may be."

"Okay, but before I do go, we are celebrating on the Citadel," Patrick grinned, "We need to celebrate our victory."

"What makes you so sure there is going to be a victory?" Kaidan asked, chuckling softly.

"I know these things and I am almost never wrong," Patrick laughed.

"Almost?" Kaidan asked and Patrick shrugged, smirking slightly,

"I'm not God."

"Team, meet in the debriefing room," Everyone looked up at the ceiling where Shepard's voice rang out, bouncing against the echoing, silver walls of the Normandy.

"Well," Kaidan whispered, "This is it."

They stood there in silence until Liara murmured, "We should not keep the Commander waiting."

"I don't know," At this Kaidan grinned slightly, but it did not reach his eyes, "I think I would rather face Shepard's wrath then whatever awaits us on Virmire.

"Hey," Patrick rested a hand on Kaidan's shoulder, "You'll be fine. I'll be fine. We'll all be fine. I promise."

And at that moment, Patrick knew what must be done to ensure Kaidan's survival (and Ashley's too). Something that could forever change the course of the game, but it would give Shepard a full crew when they went and faced Saren.

Despite the fact that both his and Liara's attention was on Kaidan, Patrick could sense that the Asari was thinking about him.

Did she know what he knew?

* * *

Shepard sighed.

It was a depressing sound.

It was a sound that the crew didn't hear very often.

It meant that Shepard suspected trouble was ahead.

Shepard sighed again before turning to face the crew and Patrick could see the worry on his Commander's face and the concentration, his blue eyes swiveling to each member of his crew. Patrick wondered if he was thinking about who would be returning to the Normandy at the end of the day. Kaidan's hands kneaded each other nervously and Patrick suspected that the lieutenant was thinking the same thing as the Serviceman.

"Well, this is it," Shepard stated simply and there were uncomfortable laughs around him, everyone attempting to ease up the tense atmosphere that was surrounding them. Even Wrex was silent, not making his usual bitter remarks that humans showed fear too easily. For that single moment, they were no longer humans, Krogan, or Turians. They were a part of a single crew, united to do one thing: stop Saren and hopefully prevent the world from destruction.

"We've worked hard to get to this point," Shepard continued, pacing around the debriefing room. "And now that we're here…" Shepard paused and let out a small chuckle, "I wish we were still vacationing on Therum."

"I know the odds are not in our favor. Saren and his geth outnumber us ten to one, but I know that we can do this," Shepard smirked slightly, eyeing each member of his crew, "I've fought beside all of you more than a dozen of times and I know that there isn't a greater team in the entire universe. If anyone can defeat Saren and the geth and whatever comes after them, it's all of you."

"Or we'll die trying," Wrex growled and suddenly everyone remembered the high stakes.

"Thanks for putting that optimistic idea in our heads, Krogan," Ashley rolled her eyes, but there was no intense hatred in them as there had been at the start of their mission. Ashley, who loathed every single form of alien species, had come to think of Wrex as… not a friend, but a fellow crewman. Shepard had united all the species against a single enemy. Even Garrus was prepared to fight a Turian.

"Wrex is right," Shepard sighed once more, "I'm not going to pretend this mission is easy. I know if we work hard enough we can defeat Saren, but I don't know how many of us will come out of it alive and I just want to say that all of you have been the best crew I have ever served with and I would be honored to give my life to save any of you today."

Everyone nodded, agreeing with Shepard's words and Patrick glanced around at the crew he had come to respect and care for.

How many would come out alive?

"Shepard," Joker's voice rang over the intercom and everyone stared up. Patrick had gotten to know the pilot so well that he could tell by Joker's tone that he was just as nervous as everyone who was going to be fighting. "We just broke through Virmire's atmosphere. ETA five minutes." There was a pause. "You need to choose who you want to accompany you in the Mako."

Shepard nodded, "Alenko, Hamilton, you heard the man. Suit up and meet me by the Mako in a minute."

"What?" Patrick choked, his ears ringing with nerves as he processed Shepard's words. "You want me to join you? Shouldn't you be asking someone…" Patrick's voice trailed off and he glanced around at the familiar faces, realizing that there was a dozen soldiers who could accompany Shepard better than he could. "Else?"

"Don't question my orders, Hamilton, just follow them," Shepard stood up and walked towards the door before stopping, turning around to face Patrick, "You don't give yourself enough credit, Hamilton."

And with that Shepard was gone and Patrick whirled around to face the others.

"What the hell is Shepard thinking?" Patrick ranted, nerves making him more jumpy than usual. Although he would never admit it, Patrick was honored that Shepard had chosen him to accompany him and Kaidan on Virmire, but it was such an important mission, more important than Feros and Noveria combined. If he screwed it up… if he ruined the… no. It wasn't a game anymore. If he ruined his companions' lives then he would never be able to live with himself. Shepard _had_ to choose someone else. "I'm probably the most inexperienced one out of all of us." Patrick turned to face Ashley, a pleading look in his eyes, "Ash, you should go with them instead. You've been with the Alliance longer."

"Time doesn't matter to Shepard," Ashley's words were calm as she stared at Patrick, "He wouldn't make this decision lightly, farmer. He obviously knows that you can do it."

"You need to calm down," Wrex growled, "The Chief is right. It's Shepard's choice and while I'd rather be the one killing geth, you may be one of the best choices." Everyone stared at Wrex who glared back, shrugging, "What? I may think that you aren't a true warrior, Serviceman, but you have spirit and sometimes that matters more."

"And anyway, its only until the Salarian base," Garrus added, a thin smirk appearing on his face, "You only have an hour until we meet up again and how much destruction can you do in an hour?"

"Have you not met, Hamilton?" Kaidan grinned before resting a calm hand on Patrick's shoulder, "Listen, there is almost no one I would rather be fighting with and I've got your back."

Patrick nodded and Liara walked so that she was standing next to the two Alliance soldiers, "You two should be heading to the airlock now. It is probably not wise to keep the Commander waiting. If all of us are stressed, imagine what he is feeling."

Patrick gave another curt nod and was about to follow Kaidan out of the airlock when he felt someone rest a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, his eyes locking with Tali's mask. The quarian was staring (at least Patrick assumed she was staring) at him, kneading her hands together nervously before blurting out, "You'll stay safe, right?"

"You have my word that I'll be as safe as I can be when fighting dozens of geth." Patrick grinned.

"Don't make jokes," Tali snapped gently before he voice dropped to a whisper, "I just… I just don't know what I would do if I lost you." Tali paused slightly as though realizing what she had said before adding, her voice fast, "Any of you. The Alliance and the entire universe needs all of you to be okay."

"I promise I'll watch their backs," Patrick said and then grinned teasingly, "It was nice to know you were worried about me though." Before Tali could defend herself, Patrick added, "I'm kidding, Tali. I'll see you when I get back." Patrick wrapped his arms around one of his closest friends and nodded to everyone else before following Kaidan out of the room.

They walked in silence until Kaidan laughed suddenly, turning to look at Patrick with amusement in his amber eyes, "You sure are dense, aren't you Hamilton?"

"What are you talking about, LT?"

"You do know that Tali fancies you," Kaidan grinned.

"What are you talking about?" Patrick defended himself, feeling a slight warm feeling on his neck, "Tali and I are just friends."

"To you maybe," Kaidan murmured and before Patrick could respond, they reached Shepard who was pacing around, talking with Navigator Pressley. "Commander, ready when you are."

Shepard sighed, "This is it isn't it?"

"Good luck, you three," Pressley muttered gruffly, staring at everyone with his piercing blue eyes, "You're going to need it."

* * *

"Commander, your team really needs to take out those AA guns," Joker's voice rang in Patrick's ears along with gunshots and Shepard's shouts as he tossed grenade after grenade at the never ending geth troopers. "I can't dodge them forever."

"In a fucking minute, Joker," Shepard shouted and Patrick took his eyes off the battle for a second to glance at his commander's frustrated face before he brought the sniper rifle back up to his face, firing a shot at a shock trooper who dropped to the ground. "We're a little busy right now." Shepard then waved Kaidan over who was a couple feet in front of Patrick, both the Commander and the Lieutenant, ducking behind rocks while Patrick was huddled near the wheel of the Mako. "Alenko, come with and see if we can find a way to disable those guns." Kaidan nodded and Shepard turned around to face Patrick who was covering his two senior soldiers with the sniper. "Hamilton, cover us!"

"Rodger, Commander!" Patrick shouted, quickly inserting a new magazine into his rifle while Shepard and Kaidan rushed towards the stairs where the Serviceman knew the gun controls were hidden. He just didn't know how many geth awaited his two friends. Patrick spotted a geth hunter walking along the side of a wall and with two easy shots, his target crumbled to the floor. Patrick took down two more geth troopers before patching in to Joker. "Shore party to Normandy. Joker, are you there?"

"Where's Shepard, Hamilton?" Joker answered his voice rough by the static that broke up their conversation. "I can't dodge those guns forever! They need to be deactivated now or the whole ship's going to blow!"

"Shepard and Alenko left to deactivate it about ten minutes ago. Have you heard anything from them?" Patrick asked nervously. Where _were _they and why hadn't they contacted anyone?

"Negative," Joker answered, "They... fuck! What the hell was…?" And suddenly the line went dead.

"Joker!" Patrick shouted and when no one answered, he swore. "Shit!" Patrick stared at the stairs where Shepard and Kaidan had disappeared minutes ago and took a deep breath before charging in after them, switching the rifle for his pistol. Patrick ran up the steps, listening intently for any signs of his friends.

"Shepard?"

No answer.

"Alenko?"

No answer.

"Anyone?"

"Shit, Hamilton, get down," Patrick felt himself be dragged to the floor by Shepard who was ducking behind a fallen piece of metal both of them with unsheathed weapons, pointing at the other side.

"What's going on?" Patrick asked, his voice rising slightly as a something above them exploded.

_Please let it not be the Normandy._

"Two geth destroyers," Kaidan explained and Shepard sat up slightly, firing two quick shots at an invisible enemy.

"Correction," Shepard breathed, "One geth destroyer."

"I can probably hold him off with my biotics," Kaidan said, "You two see if you can deactivate those guns. Joker didn't sound like he was doing that well the last time we spoke with him."

"Stay safe, Alenko," Shepard nodded and Patrick rested a calm hand on Kaidan's shoulder before following the Commander around the backside of the building. As soon as they left, they heard gunshots explode behind them.

As they jogged deeper and deeper into the building, Patrick turned to Shepard and asked, his words coming out in short, rapid gasps. This was the fastest he had been forced to move so far. "How do we know what we're looking for anyway? How do we know what destroys the guns?"

Shepard stared at Patrick for a moment as though he hadn't thought that far ahead. After a couple seconds of silence, the first human Spectre shrugged. "Blow up the whole complex?"

Patrick laughed although he wasn't sure if Shepard was kidding or not and the two of them ran deeper and deeper into the geth's hideout although surprisingly it seemed rather empty. Shepard was a couple feet in front of Patrick and muttered, "I'm surprised there isn't that much resistance."

"We _did_ destroy a lot of them, Commander," Patrick mused, "And the ones that we missed, must have fallen back to…" Patrick stopped himself. "To retreat."

What Patrick had been about to say was that the geth had probably fallen back to defend Saren's research facility where deep inside the deranged Turian was attempting to cure that Krogan genophage.

"It's an idea," Shepard allowed and finally the two of them arrived in a medium-sized circular room that contained many consoles all that beeped every now and then. Shepard stepped towards the nearest console and tapped it with his fist, "Think this is the control room, Hamilton?"

"I doubt it could be anything else," Patrick shrugged, heading over to a console on the other side of the room, manually deciphering one of the geth codes… an ability that Tali had spent hours coaching him on during one of their late night talks aboard the Normandy. "Commander, I think this may be the communications console. This could be the reason Joker couldn't get in touch with you when we were separated. I may be able to disable it…"

Before Patrick could even attempt to fix their problem, Shepard took out his pistol and fired one shot into the console. The machine began to buzz loudly and soon smoke clouded the screen. Patrick stared at Shepard and shrugged, "I suppose that works to."

"Joker, do you read me?" Shepard asked and Patrick tuned in to his on com link, Joker's loud chuckle heard, free of static.

"Shit, Commander, don't you scare me like that again. We thought we lost you," Joker laughed and Patrick could almost picture the Alliance pilot rolling his eyes as he spoke to the Commander. He would never roll his eyes at Shepard in person. "How is everything down there? Hamilton and Alenko still alive?"

"They're both fine," Shepard said before turning to look at the console next to the destroyed communications one. "Hey Joker, do you still want those AA towers taken out?"

"Hell yeah," There was the sound of flesh hitting metal and Patrick grinned as he pictured Joker slapping the Normandy in his excitement. It was good to know he didn't abuse his "baby." "These sons of bitches have been trying to take me down all day."

"Alright then, Joker, pull the Normandy away from them. I don't know if they are going to go out with a bang."

"Why would I even be near them?" Joker mumbled, but Shepard ignored him, turning to face Patrick,

"And Hamilton, get ready to run like hell."

"Why?" Patrick asked, but his question was answered when Shepard took out a grenade.

"Ready?" Shepard asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Always." And with that Shepard through the grenade at the console and Patrick obeyed Shepard's order perfectly.

He ran like hell.

* * *

"Get in the Mako, LT!" Shepard shouted as he and Patrick sprinted down the stairs of the building and Kaidan gave them a look of surprise before pulling himself into the Mako, driving it towards them to pick his crew members up.

Shepard slid himself in first and as Patrick was pulling the door shut behind him, Kaidan asked, his amber eyes wide with confusion, "What the hell did you two do in there?"

There was a loud bang and smoke began coming out of the open windows of the building and Kaidan rolled his eyes as he drove the Mako forward, "Shepard, can't you go _anywhere_ without blowing something up?"

"Nope," Shepard smirked, "Now drive."

Kaidan drove them through the collapsing doorways of the building and they emerged from the other side surprisingly unscathed. The lieutenant turned to Shepard as they drove, "The Salarian camp is only two clicks away."

At first Patrick thought that two clicks would take some time to cover, but with the speed of the Mako (not to mention how fast Kaidan was pushing it), they were there in a matter of minutes and they were pulling themselves out of Mako into the open arms of their fellow Normandy crew members.

Shepard instantly put an arm around Ashley who blushed darkly and the two of them moved to a corner where they were talking softly and Kaidan hugged Liara, grinning and saying something about 'actually making it out alive.' Patrick grinned and shook hands with Garrus who surprisingly congratulated him on a job well done before moving towards Tali and the Serviceman could practically sense the Quarian shaking with relief.

Patrick stopped in front of her and grinned, shrugging slightly, "I told you I would be fine."

"This isn't over yet," Tali murmured and Patrick smirked, a playful glow shining in his pale eyes,

"You always know how to be positive, Tali. That's one of the things I like most about you."

Tali let out a small laugh, "I just like… preparing myself for whatever happens. I guess it is a trait I got from the Flotilla."

"Preparing yourself for whatever happens?" Patrick asked, raising an eyebrow, but the grin remained fastened on his face, "So that means you already mentally prepared yourself for my death?"

"No!" Tali gasped and Patrick laughed, almost as though he could see the shock in his closest friend's eyes.

"I'm only kidding, Tali," Patrick grinned, "But I understand you wanting to prepare yourself for whatever happens next. We are living in a dangerous era, but I'm going to make a promise to you. When we kick Saren's ass, I promise you that we are _all_ going to the Citadel and having a celebration."

"I'd like that," Tali murmured, lifting a thin arm and touching Patrick's shoulder softly.

Remembering Kaidan's teases, Patrick sighed, "Listen, Tali, there is _a lot_ you don't know about me just yet and now isn't the time to reveal everything just yet… maybe when everything is over…"

Tali nodded, "I understand." She then turned away and added, "I think Shepard is waving us over."

And indeed Shepard was.

The human and quarian made their way over to their Commander who had gathered his team with a sweep of his hand. On his left was Ashley who caught Patrick's eye and gave him a small grin which the Serviceman gladly returned, pain making his heart go numb as he thought of the possibility that he might never see his friend again. On Shepard's left was an unfamiliar salarian, but after a couple moments, realization sunk in. The salarian was…

"Everyone, this is Kirrahe," Shepard explained, gesturing towards the salarian. "He is the captain of the investigation team the Council sent. Captain, this is _my_ team."

Kirrahe's black eyes widened as he stared at Shepard. "_This _is your team? This? I told the Council to send a fleet! Do they honestly expect two small teams will be able to stop Saren?"

"With all due respect, Captain," Shepard nodded politely to Kirrahe before continuing, "This team has never failed for and I assure you that they will not let you or the Council down."

"Yeah," Patrick added, grinning, "You'll soon find out that we're full of surprises."

"Some more than others," Kaidan said, catching Patrick's eye and the Serviceman was sure that the lieutenant's comment was directed at him. Not many people had the same secret he did.

"What exactly is Saren doing here?" Liara asked from Kaidan's side, her kind eyes staring at Kirrahe. Ah. That was Liara. She was the only one who ever seemed to always remember that the lives they were all leading was not fun and games.

Kirrahe took a deep breath before explaining, "Saren has built a research facility and it is protected by dozens upon dozens of geth troopers. I have lost most of my team attempting to penetrate its high walls."

"Research facility?" Tali asked, Patrick glancing down at his friend, "What is Saren researching?"

"The Conduit?" Ashley suggested, glancing at Shepard, but Kirrahe shook his head.

"Something worse, I'm afraid," Kirrahe sighed, "Saren has been studying the Krogan genophage. He has found a cure." The group fell silent and Patrick couldn't resist glancing at Wrex who was glaring at Kirrahe as he spoke of his people in such a tone. "I take it by your silence that you know what this means. That facility must be destroyed. We unleashed the Krogan and that was an action we regretted for many decades. We cannot repeat our mistakes."

"We are not a mistake!" Wrex snarled before storming away, everyone's eyes on his retreating form.

"I trust he will not be a problem?" Kirrahe asked and Shepard shook his head, but there was a touch of nerves in his blue eyes.

"No, he will listen to me," Shepard said and Kirrahe nodded,

"Good. Saren has more than enough angry Krogan for us to deal with. Now if you excuse me, I would like to take a minute to talk things over with my team. We will invade Saren's facility as soon as possible."

Shepard's team began to disperse after that. Garrus walked away with Tali and Liara and the three of them headed towards where Kirrahe was talking with his team, probably trying to get a feel of their new allies. Patrick stood beside Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley. All four of them were staring at Wrex who was shooting angrily into the nearby water.

Shepard sighed, "Do you think I should talk to him?"

Kaidan shrugged, "It couldn't hurt."

Ashley snorted, amber eyes staring at Kaidan, "Actually, LT, it could hurt _a lot_."

Shepard sighed once more. "Ash, watch my back."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Their eyes met and Patrick could almost hear Walt Whitman's famous poem echoing in his ears. Shepard stared at the three humans on his team for a moment longer before walking over to the Krogan who sheathed his shotgun as soon as he saw his commander.

Patrick sighed and turned around to face Ashley, his eyes dark with worry, "Ash, listen to me. Wrex won't hurt Shepard, I'm sure of it. Shepard can be very persuasive and I know he will manage to convince Wrex to leave his anger for Saren and Saren alone. If you shoot Wrex then we are going to lose a valuable member of our team."

"Are you crazy, Hamilton?" Ashley whispered, her amber eyes flashing from Patrick to Shepard and back again, "Wrex is a loose cannon and now that he sees us as his enemies, he is only going to be that much harder to control."

"Ash, please, I _know _Wrex won't shoot." Patrick pleaded.

"Listen to him, Ash," Kaidan whispered and he locked eyes with Patrick, surprising the Serviceman. The lieutenant trusted him enough to side with him over someone from his own world… someone who didn't give him a death sentence.

"What is wrong with you two?" Ashley asked her amber eyes wide, "You want me to place Shepard's life in jeopardy because you two _think_ that Wrex won't attack him?"

"We are asking you to trust us," Kaidan murmured.

"Please Ash," Patrick repeated.

A gunshot went off.

The three humans whirled around, Patrick's heart pounding nervously in his chest.

_Shit! What if I was wrong?_

_What if this isn't a paragon Shepard?_

_A renegade Shepard would have killed Wrex instantly!_

_Or maybe I was wrong about Wrex!_

_Would he shoot Shepard?_

"I don't believe it," Ashley breathed, amber eyes wider than before.

"You have to understand how a team works, Ash," Kaidan sighed, "Sometimes you have to do things for the greater good even if you don't want to. Sometimes the hardest answer is the only possible one."

Patrick sighed as Shepard and Wrex walked over to them, neither of their dark eyes betraying what they had talked about.

"Everything alright, Commander?" Kaidan asked.

Shepard nodded, glancing at Wrex just as Kirrahe walked over to them, black eyes blinking rapidly as he stared at the human Spectre and the Krogan mercenary, "I trust everything is alright with your team, Commander Shepard?" Shepard nodded. "Good, good because me and my team have come up with a plan to infiltrate Saren's facility. You and your team will infiltrate the facility and place a nuke that my engineers have constructed. My team will serve as the diversion. I really believe we can complete this mission."

"Excellent," Ashley grinned, but Shepard wasn't blind.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Shepard asked and Kirrahe sighed,

"You must understand, Commander, that I have lost most of my team in combat with Saren, the geth, and the Krogan." Wrex flinched at the mention of Krogan. "I do not have enough under my command to pull this mission off successfully and many of my men will die at the end of today." Kirrahe sighed once more. "That makes what I'm about to ask so much harder. In order to pull off this mission, I would need a member of your crew to accompany me and my team."

"I volunteer myself, Commander," Kaidan offered instantly just as Patrick knew he would.

"Are you insane, LT? Shepard will need you to set the nuke," Ashley protested just as Patrick knew she would, turning around to lock her amber eyes with Shepard's ice blue gaze, "John, let me help Kirrahe."

"Chief, you know as well as I do that you could set the nuke just as well as I could and besides," Kaidan stared at Shepard and Ashley, "You have an important place here."

"LT," Ashley glared at Kaidan, who sighed,

"With all due respect, Chief, it's not your decision."

"Why is it that whenever someone says 'with all due respect' they really mean kiss my ass?" Ashley sighed.

"Settle down," Shepard said, his voice low, but still possessing the commanding tone everyone was used to. "Ash, I want you to stay with my team. I don't think I'll be able to pull this mission off without you."

Patrick nodded slightly. He knew that Shepard would never let Ashley out of his sight.

The Commander turned to Kaidan, blue eyes nervous and Patrick knew he had chosen who would help Kirrahe.

Patrick sighed.

He was about to interfere big time.

"Alenko, I want…"

"Shepard, can I join Kirrahe's team?"

Patrick felt everyone's eyes turn to him.

"Hamilton," Shepard murmured as though he didn't believe what he was hearing. "_You_ want to join Kirrahe's team?" Patrick nodded and Shepard sighed, exchanging a quick glance with Ashley who gave the young Serviceman a comforting smirk. "Alright, Hamilton, you have proven yourself and I trust that you will be a good asset to Kirrahe's team."

The Salarian nodded, "He seems brave. We will work well together."

Shepard nodded before turning to Kirrahe, "Perhaps we should finalize the plans?"

Kirrahe nodded and gestured Shepard to follow him, Ashley tailing behind the human and the Salarian. As soon as they were out of earshot, Kaidan rounded on Patrick.

"I know why you are doing this, Hamilton?" Kaidan snapped, "And I want you to know that I can take care of myself. I don't need you sacrificing yourself to save me. You are too young to be doing that." Kaidan cast a quick glance in Shepard's direction, satisfied that their Commander wasn't paying them any attention. "I want you to tell Shepard that you want to switch positions with me. I'm prepared to give my life for the Alliance. You aren't even a part of this world."

"I know what's going to happen, remember that LT," Patrick murmured calmly, "I have just as good as a chance surviving out there as you do- probably better and in case you haven't noticed, this is really my world now. I've been here for weeks and I care for Shepard and the others just as much as you do." Patrick sighed, "And besides I promised you that you would come out of this okay and you will be much safer with Shepard and the others than with Kirrahe."

"What about Tali?" Kaidan asked, obviously not going to lose the argument as quick as Patrick wanted him to, "She cares deeply for you. What if something happens to you out there? It will kill her."

Patrick glanced towards where Tali was talking with Garrus, waving her hands as she spoke. He also spotted Liara staring at them, her blue eyes never leaving Kaidan. Well _that_ wasn't in the game.

"Tali's feelings for me are the same as Liara's feelings for you."

Kaidan jumped at this and glanced at Liara quickly before turning back to Patrick, "There's nothing I can say to persuade you to remain with Shepard and allow me to accompany Kirrahe?"

Patrick shook his head and Kaidan sighed,

"Well good luck, then."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well what do you think? A nice, long chapter for all of you. Please review and let me know what were your opinions!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

_Saren_

**Author's Note: **Okay so in this chapter we will find out who will be returning to the Normandy alive and who will be left on Virmire when the nuke destroys Saren's base. Or maybe if I'm in a good enough mood there will be no tragedies… maybe. So please read and review. This chapter will be completely AU since the game didn't show what happened with Kirrahe's team.

Oh and also I've gotten several comments and emails about Patrick and Tali's relationship. I'm sorry that their progression has been slow, but that's only because in the past, I've gotten several complaints about ruining a couple by making them fall for each other too fast. I was determined not to do that this time so ironically, I went too slowly. My apologies and I hope that I can redeem my self by the end of the story.

Also, I have decided that this story will have a sequel. Just thought I would let you know.

And so ends the longest Author's Note I ever wrote.

**Note: **I realized I made a mistake in the previous chapter since that in Saren's research facility there is a second Prothean beacon that Patrick would have needed to find with Shepard. I'm just going to make it slightly AU so that Patrick finds the beacon when he's with Kirrahe and the Salarians. I just wanted to let you all know.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Mass Effect.

* * *

"It was a brave thing you did back there, Serviceman Hamilton," Patrick glanced at the dark-faced Salarian who was staring at him with black eyes, a sniper rifle strapped onto his back. Patrick and the Salarian team had just left the others and were crouching in a stream, water sliding through their boots. Patrick had been standing quietly, listening to Kirrahe talk to his team until the Salarian who was crouched beside him, turned to face him, a glimmer of childish youth in his dark eyes. "I'm Iz." Patrick shook the Salarian's hand, "I'm the medic for our team. I just thought I would introduce myself incase…" Iz paused.

"Incase I get shot in the head?" Patrick smirked quietly, not wanting to draw attention to him.

"I can sense by your body language that you are a new soldier," Iz said, scrutinizing Patrick with sharp eyes, "But you have spirit and you don't show much fear. You had to have had courage if you volunteered to fight beside us when there is a strong possibility that not many of us will make it out of here alive."

"Don't let my humor fool you," Patrick grinned, "I use humor as a way to cover up my fear. I'm scared to death on the inside."

"You and me both," Iz laughed, a high-pitched sound before turning to talk to one of his fellow Salarians, leaving Patrick alone with his thoughts once more, hoping that his decision wouldn't be in vain. Both Kaidan and Ashley _had _to survive.

"_Hamilton_."

A voice buzzed and Patrick took out the com link, Shepard had given to him right before they separated.

"_Hamilton, do you read me?_"

Patrick put the com link to his lips and whispered, aware that some of the nearby Salarians had turned to stare at him, "Yes, Alenko?"

"I was hoping to get in contact with you before you started your mission with the Salarians," Kaidan sighed, his voice coming out crackly on the other end of the com, "Which you shouldn't have done. I trust you with my life, but my life is expendable. You are young." Patrick opened his mouth to snap at Kaidan, hoping the lieutenant understood that he was just as important as any other member of the team, "Don't say anything, Hamilton. I don't want to argue with you. I just want to say… you're stronger than you think. Much stronger. You just don't realize it."

"Not as strong as you or Shepard," Patrick said softly, not liking how their words were coming out. It made it sound like a goodbye.

"Hell, I doubt Shepard's human with how strong he is and as for me," Kaidan sighed, "My biotics give me strength and I wasn't born with them. Most first generation human biotics were injected with fluids that allowed our bodies to produce biotic fields. Any human who is injected with the substance would gain biotic abilities. _Anyone._"

Patrick wanted to ask what Kaidan meant, but he cut him off before he could say anything, "Shit. Shepard is waving over me and Ashley. He wants us to accompany him into Saren's base."

"Good luck." Patrick whispered.

"You too, kid. You too."

Patrick sighed and shut off the com link, praying to whoever would listen that that wouldn't be the last time he and Kaidan spoke.

"Serviceman Hamilton," Patrick looked up at Kirrahe who waved him over so that he was standing beside the tall Salarian. "I want you up here with me." Patrick nodded and Kirrahe turned to look at his team, a group of a little less then a dozen soldiers, "I just want to let you all know that it has been an honor fighting beside you."

His team gave him a curt nod, emotion shining in their eyes as they said goodbye to one another and Kirrahe sighed, turning to face Patrick before staring at the path in front of him, "Okay. Move out!"

The whole team automatically split into four small groups and Patrick, having no idea where he belonged, stuck close to Kirrahe as they walked along the beaches of Virmire. They walked in silence for a couple moments; the only sound was the small splashes their combat boots made in the water, until Kirrahe signaled for them to stop.

"Three geth troopers up ahead," Kirrahe whispered, taking out his pistol, "Team Delta, get in position." Patrick turned to look at Kirrahe, confusion probably clear in his blue eyes so the Salarian explained, "Delta is our snipers."

Patrick turned to stare at the group, surprised that Iz was crouched beside them, and they all took a small breath before firing off three shots and the three geth troopers fell down, destroyed.

Patrick glanced at Kirrahe and gave a small grin, "I'm impressed."

Kirrahe nodded, but didn't look pleased at Patrick's comment.

"We're not here to impress. We're here to destroy. Hopefully, Shepard will succeed today." Kirrahe looked off into space for a moment, as though seeing a future only he could see. "Even if my whole crew and I won't make it out alive."

Patrick stared at Kirrahe and then at the rest of the Salarian team.

They had lost so much…

The dozen that stood there couldn't die.

Patrick wouldn't allow it.

The Serviceman sighed.

He had to stop trying to ensure everyone else's survival and maybe start paying attention to his own.

* * *

"They're confused! Now's the time to attack! Alpha, Beta, move forward! Delta, flank them!" Kirrahe shouted and Patrick pulled himself over a couple rocks, finding himself beside Iz and the rest of the Delta team, Kirrahe close behind them, shooting his pistol off at everything that moved.

"Shepard must have cut off their communications," Iz murmured, "That's the only reason we were given this opportunity."

"The Commander always pulls through," Patrick breathed, his chest tight. They had been sprinting none stop for half an hour or so and they had finally reached the outskirts of Saren's base.

Patrick sighed. This was without a doubt going to be the most important battle of his life.

As he pulled his sniper rifle to his shoulder, Patrick waited for Kirrahe to shout an order.

But nothing came.

Patrick turned around sharply as he heard the firing of a gun and watched Kirrahe slide down, his head crashing into the small river they were squatting in, his blood staining the water crimson.

"Captain!" Iz wailed his black eyes wide.

One of the older Salarians swore loudly in a language that definitely wasn't English before turning to Patrick, "What should we do?"

"What?" Patrick asked in bewilderment, crouching down behind a rock as the geth kept firing off shot after shot.

"You're in charge now that Kirrahe is…" The Salarian stared at his Captain's mutilated body, "Dead."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Patrick swore before staring at the Salarian team members that were all under fire. Patrick swore again before turning to the Salarian, "This is a fight we cannot win at the moment. We need to regroup. Can you take half the team one way and I'll take the other half another? Splitting up may be our only chance for survival."

The Salarian stared at him coolly, "You are not one of us. A Salarian would hold the line no matter what loses we suffered." Patrick stared at the Salarian evenly, wondering if Kirrahe's soldier would not follow a human's orders. "But in this case perhaps you are right." The Salarian stood up, "Team Alpha, Beta! You're with me! Delta, follow Serviceman Hamilton."

"Come on," Patrick led the way, his heavy boots splashing in the water as he ran, Iz and the other three members of Delta following him loyally. He was not their commander, but he was a leader to the and in a time of crisis, any leader was better then fending for yourself. Patrick understood this because that was often how he felt when he was with Shepard.

"Serviceman Hamilton, where are we going?" Iz asked, his breath coming out in ragged gasps and Patrick was tempted to slow down, but knew that the Salarian medic would never admit to exhaustion.

"I don't know, but…"

"Get down!" One of the other Salarians shouted and they all threw themselves onto the ground, Patrick holding his rifle out in front of him as he tried to see what had caused his companion such terror.

"It's a geth Colossus," Iz explained, "This is a fight we cannot win, Serviceman. Our weapons are not strong enough."

Patrick nodded and began leading them the other way before coming to a dead end.

"Fuck!" Patrick swore, but Iz rested a gentle hand on the Serviceman's shoulder.

"There is a tunnel nearby," Iz nodded towards a nearby tunnel, obviously made by the geth or by some other race. "I say we follow it and see where it leads. It is our only hope for survival."

"Okay, follow me," Patrick led the way into the tunnel, never once stopping to think that it could interfere with his communications to the world above and to his friends who were in trouble themselves.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Kido, another Salarian trooper, hissed. They had been walking for fifteen minutes and so far, there was no light at the end of this tunnel. There was only more darkness although Patrick thought he saw a green glow coming up, but every time he blinked, the glow disappeared.

"If I knew then I would have answered you the last time you asked," Patrick snapped. The heat in the tunnel, not to mention the stress from the fight, had everyone's nerves up and everyone was waiting for something to happen. Every time someone's boots kicked a rock, one of them fired off a shot. Luckily, no one had been wounded yet.

Yet.

"You remind me of a Krogan, Hamilton," Kido acknowledged, his tone insulting. "So angry."

Patrick laughed, "Have you ever met a Krogan, Kido, or do you just claim to know about them since your species almost destroyed them?" Patrick gave Kido a short glare and the Salarian snorted before returning his large eyes back to staring straight ahead.

"Does anyone else see that green glow?" Iz mused.

"Hmmm," Patrick glanced at the Salarian, "I thought I was the only one who could see it."

"You aren't that special, Serviceman," Kido mocked.

The three soldiers walked towards the glow and Patrick froze as he realized what he was staring at…

A Prothean beacon.

"Unbelievable," Iz murmured, walking around the beacon, too hesitant to touch it. "A real life Prothean artifact."

Kido took out his pistol and quickly loaded it, "I say we destroy it."

Iz turned around to face his fellow soldier, his black eyes bright with shock, "Are you insane, Kido? This is perhaps one of the only Prothean artifacts left standing and not crumbled up into rubble."

Patrick took a step forward, unsure what to do.

Should he reactivate the beacon?

That's what Shepard did in the game, but in the game, the beacon was at Saren's base. For reasons unknown, the beacon was in some abandoned tunnel.

Iz turned to Patrick, obviously looking for support from his leader, "Serviceman Hamilton, I implore you not to give the order to destroy the beacon."

Patrick ignored the Salarian and instead walked towards the beacon. As soon as he got within a foot, the beacon glowed brightly and Patrick felt his feet leave the floor as they had done weeks ago. Then… the memories came back.

_Synthetics…_

_Sovereign…_

_Illos…_

_The end of all civilization…_

"Serviceman!" Iz screeched as Patrick was sent crashing to the floor.

"Can't any of you humans stand on your feet?" Kido muttered, but bent down and Patrick gratefully took the Salarian's hand.

"Thank you," Patrick murmured, feeling slightly nauseous, but otherwise okay. Before Iz could question about the Prothean beacon, Patrick tilted his head forward, "Let's move out."

* * *

Patrick leaned against the wall.

They had made.

Un-fucking-believable.

Patrick glanced around Saren's base, the group of surviving Salarians surrounding him, talking in their high-pitched voices. Not counting Iz and Kido, four other members of Kirrahe's original team survived. It wasn't a perfect number, but to Patrick he felt that, given their mission, it could have ended up being a lot worse. As for Shepard's team, Patrick never got a message from Shepard or Kaidan or Ashley. As far as he knew, everything was fine.

That was about to be proven work.

"Serviceman," Patrick glanced over at Iz who was looking through his sniper rifle, "Two Geth destroyers heading our way!"

"I knew this was too easy," Kido growled as he through his own sniper over his shoulder.

Patrick took out his pistol and was about to load it when his COM link beeped.

"_Serviceman Hamilton, the nuke is almost set. What are your coordinates?" _

Patrick brought the link to his lips, "I'm with the Salarian team in Saren's base. We're against a couple of destroyers."

"Serviceman!" Iz screeched, "More geth are approaching."

"Fuck," Patrick swore, "There are more coming."

"Don't move, Hamilton," Shepard ordered, "We're coming. Ash still needs some time to set the nuke."

"NO!" Patrick shouted, but it was too late.

Shepard had disconnected.

"Hamilton," Kido shouted, "We could use some help over here!"

Patrick jumped forward, his pistol already out and before he had taken a breath, he had fired a shot, destroying a geth trooper. He really had improved from the inexperienced kid he had been weeks ago when he was another person.

A shot fired by Patrick's ear and the Serviceman turned, grinning at the look of triumph on Kido's face.

"Nice one, Salarian!" Patrick shouted and Kido smirked before firing off another impressive shot just as a blast echoed around them, sending the lone human and group of Salarians to their knees.

"Someone fucking take out that destroyer!" One of the other Salarians shouted, but Patrick couldn't react.

Iz was on the ground, a deadly hole in his chest, his black eyes opening and closing rapidly.

"Iz," Patrick whispered, Kido at his side as they bent over to check their companion.

"Come on, kid, pull through," Kido murmured, his voice surprisingly soft.

Iz ignored Kido and instead stared at Patrick, touching the human's shoulder before muttering, "Good luck."

Patrick stood up instantly; ready to take on the entire fucking geth army when his COM link beeped for a second time.

"Get us some reinforcements, Serviceman," Kido nodded, his face contorted in fury, as he joined his brothers on the front line.

"Shepard, don't-" Patrick was about to order, but Shepard cut him off.

"Serviceman, geth troopers have just invaded the bombing site and Williams can't fend them off by herself."

"Go help her," Patrick begged.

"No!" Ashley disagreed, her voice echoing in Patrick's ear, "Go help Hamilton, Shepherd! Forget me!"

"You're too important, Ash!" Patrick argued.

"Shut up, both of you!" Shepard ordered and Patrick could picture the Commander frowning with concentration.

"It's done," Ashley said, "The nuke is set. Now get to Hamilton!"

"No!" Patrick shouted, but as he did so, a blast echoed in the COM link and everything went dead.

Had something happened to Ashley?

Or worse… had something happened to Shepard?

"Hamilton!" Patrick looked over at Kido and his eyes widened at the figure closing in on the Salarian.

Saren.

With the skill of a Spectre, Saren fired a clean shot in Kido's head and the Salarian dropped to the ground dead.

Patrick stared at Saren and the Turian stared back.

"So you're the one who got the beacon, huh? Hmm, I thought you were going to be taller. It doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy making you bleed."

Patrick took out his pistol and fired two quick shots, but Saren dodged them easily.

"My turn, human."

Patrick ducked behind a crate, watching with horror as Saren took out the rest of the Salarian team, one by one.

Fury controlled Patrick as he jumped out of his hiding spot and fired two more shots at Saren, watching with satisfaction as one of them grazed the Turian's shoulder, making him wince in pain.

Obviously, that hadn't played over well with Saren.

The turian surged forward and shoved Patrick to the ground, his pistol on the Serviceman's chest.

"Goodbye, Serviceman."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I know I haven't posted in four months, but I had lost my muse and I was going through a lot of personal shit. I hope that now that I've gotten everything sorted out, posts will become more frequent. My apologies for also the short length, but I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

_It Returns_

Have you ever had your entire life flash right before your very eyes? All of your accomplishments and failures? The people you've loved and killed? All of your memories, the good and the bad, right in your face, could you live with it? Witnessing it all again? For a second, although to him it felt like years, Patrick's memories of his past flew by him and he drowned himself in their intoxicating touch. He saw himself hovering over Lily's crib with his brothers (he had been barely three so he was in his mother's arms) and he saw himself falling for the brilliant, student council president in high school- their relationship hadn't worked out. He saw himself graduating high school and attending Harvard before dropping out, disappointing his entire family. He saw his mother die; he saw the light leave her eyes as her murderer scurried away.

And then the dream began: the dream that started off as a pixel on a screen and slowly had become a whole separate reality; a reality that Patrick now felt responsible for. He saw himself meeting Ashley and joining Shepard's crew; becoming a member of the Alliance and training underneath Kaidan and the other soldiers. He saw himself fighting beside Garrus in battle and then arguing with Wrex in the hull of the ship after a mission was completed. He saw Kaidan and Liara's shocked expressions as they realized he was from another dimension and then he remembered the warm embrace of their friendship after they learned to accept him despite his past. And most of all, he remembered Tali and in that second that lasted for years, he realized that he loved Tali. He loved her more than anything. However, that second was too late.

"Goodbye Serviceman Hamilton," Saren growled in his ear and Patrick closed his eyes as he felt the pistol bruise his ribs, trying not to wince, trying not to give Saren the satisfaction of watching his face contort in pain. This was it… this was the end. Game over, but unlike in _Mass Effect_, he couldn't start over. When he died, he would be dead. He would never get to say goodbye to Lily or William or Joseph or Holden; he would never get to say thank you to Tali or Shepard or Kaidan or any of the others. His journey ended here and for a single second, Patrick realized that he was going to die.

"Patrick! No!"

"Hamilton!"

Both Patrick and Saren's heads whipped towards the stairs where Tali and Kaidan were racing down the steps, their pistols pointed at Saren who snarled in frustration. At first, Patrick thought that Saren was just going to shoot him and be done with it, but the former Spectre chose instead to grab his shoulder and push him towards his companions, using the Serviceman as a human shield. Tali's aim faltered, but Kaidan's did not; he eyed Saren with a sense of hatred, his face twisting into one of pure anger. Patrick had never seen the Lieutenant like this before. Kaidan's calm exterior was gone and it had been replaced by this monster. But monsters are only temporarily and as Patrick cried out when Saren's claws dug deeper into his shoulder, Kaidan's face cleared and he lowered his aim, unable to shoot Patrick even if it meant he could kill Saren.

"Saren," Kaidan's voice was shaky and Patrick stared into the Lieutenant's eyes trying to read his expression, but it was clear. No anger… no fear… nothing; a blank slate. "Let him go. He's just a kid." Patrick's skin darkened and he looked away, hating being called kid, but at the same time, knowing that Kaidan spoke the truth. He always spoke the truth. "He's just a kid who got caught in the middle of something bigger than him… bigger then you or me for that matter. He deserves a chance to live…he's just an innocent." Patrick wanted to see Saren's face; he wanted to see if the Turian reacted at all to Kaidan's words.

"Killing innocents doesn't bother me anymore, Lieutenant Alenko," Saren growled, moving his claws from Patrick's shoulder to his neck when he dug his nails into the Serviceman's soft, white skin, "Innocents must always die to ensure the survival of the greater good. Surely you understand this, Lieutenant Alenko, you being a soldier." Patrick's body was frozen in shock as Saren spoke. He couldn't understand what the Turian was doing. He sounded so calculative… so cold. Patrick always wondered if Saren was actually a good person; he wondered if the indoctrination process was what had made Saren lose his soul, but now he saw that he was wrong. Saren _was _evil, just like Sovereign and the other Reapers. He wouldn't hesitate to break Patrick's spine and send his heart falling to the ground.

Kaidan opened his mouth to probably fire back a clever retort, but Saren was quicker with his hands, the Turian obviously deciding that the time for talking had passed. He threw Patrick onto the ground who was slammed onto the steel metal with a loud, ringing sound, his body vibrating in his armor. He was aware of being moved (Tali?) and he heard gunshots exploding around him, but not much else. His heart was racing and his head ached, his eyesight blurry and unfocused. He saw Kaidan's faint outline approach Saren and the two exchanged more angry words before the fighting continued.

Suddenly something exploded.

Patrick felt Tali leave his side and watched as flame began to scorch everything in sight. There had been bombs and detonators around the fighting area; it was obvious that someone (either Kaidan or Saren) had activated them. Saren coughed angrily and Patrick watched as Saren reclaimed his hovercraft, hiding in the smoke. Patrick closed his eyes as something else exploded and something hard and heavy fell onto his arm. He felt the body part break and he gasped out in pain. When he opened his eyes, the world was even darker.

"Tali! No!"

Patrick tried to find Kaidan, but his vision was useless and he had no choice, but to close his eyes, praying for someone to find them and rescue them. If no one did then Patrick, Kaidan, and Tali were all going to die. There was no stopping it. Maybe this was his destiny. He was a mistake; maybe he did deserve to die. But what about Kaidan? And Tali? Two innocents? Did they deserve to die to or was he killing innocents now? What was the difference between him and Saren?

_I didn't mean to hurt anyone._

"Get back!"

Patrick tried to open his eyes as Kaidan shouted something else, but he was unable to, his body was too badly broken and bruised. His ears were ringing and he could barely hear Kaidan and Tali's exchange over his pain and the fire roaring around them. Their words were muffled, but Patrick could hear them coughing. Or was that him? Patrick couldn't even tell if he was the one coughing anymore. His chest felt like there was a Krogan sitting on it and he could taste the smoke as it slithered down his throat, but he was still very unaware of his own body functions.

"No!"

"You have to! Please!"

"But…?"

"Tali, now!"

Patrick heard an engine roar (the Normandy?) before a pair of gentle yet strong arms heaved him up, throwing him. As he fell onto cold steel, he heard an explosion echo around him and his companion's cries and gasps. As he fell into a deep sleep, the world around him continued to move and it continued to take life. _Mass Effect_ was the past, the present, and the future and while Patrick could influence the game, he couldn't change destiny. No matter what happened or no matter what he did, someone was going to die and because of his actions, it could even be an innocent.

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So this was what dying felt like, Patrick mused as he took in the odd feelings that were engulfing his body. His head was damp with cold sweat and he felt a droplet fall down his cheek. He longed to wipe it off, but his right hand felt too heavy while his left hand was numb as though it was absent from his body. He tried to swallow (could you swallow when you were dead?) but there was a lump in his throat that seemed to stretch down his body, squeezing his heart and lungs. He couldn't breathe, but that was to be expected. Who needed air when you were dead?

Patrick's nostrils flared.

What was that? He recognized the faint scent of morphine, stronger as he grew more and more awake. That was… odd. Why should he be smelling morphine in death? Morphine was a painkiller; something doctors used to numb their patients. If he was already dead then why was he still being injected with morphine?

"Doctor? Doctor, the Hamilton boy is waking up!"

_Waking up_? But he was dead. There was no waking up for him.

"Serviceman Hamilton, can you hear me?" Patrick tried to focus in on the voice. He knew it. He hadn't heard it in sometime, but it was still familiar to him. He tried to conjure up a face, but he could barely find the name. "Serviceman Hamilton, I know you're in a lot of pain, but you have to wake up." Patrick tilted his head slightly, "Good, good, Hamilton, a little more now." The body that was closest to him turned away for a second; that much he was aware of. "Someone contact Commander Shepard and his crew! They'll want to hear about this!"

"The Turian is already here… along with the Quarian," The first voice answered.

_Turian? Garrus? Quarian? Tali?_

"Commander Shepard gave me strict orders to report to him first. Give my apologies to Garrus and his friend, but I must obey his orders," The Doctor ordered and Patrick distantly heard the chime of a door opening as the Doctor's assistant left. "Now Serviceman Hamilton, wake up. I'm lowering your morphine dose to help you regain consciousness. It's going to hurt, but we need you awake and mobile. Especially for what's to come." Patrick felt a body lean over him and he felt hot breath in his ear, "The Reapers are coming. Commander Shepard needs you, Serviceman."

That did it.

Patrick began coughing and his eyes flew open as the pain surged back into his body. He attempted to push himself up, to help air returning to his body, but strong, gentle hands pushed him back down, murmuring words that he wasn't lucid enough to understand. He looked around. He was in a white room on a bed, slightly damp from either his sweat or some of his opened wounds, and it was familiar. He was having flashbacks of Shepard and Garrus and thugs… and… the name and the face came to his memory as his eyes darted to his right side where the smiling Doctor was staring at him.

"Doctor Michel!" Patrick coughed, once more pushing himself up, but this time Dr. Michel didn't stop him. She placed a hand on his back and allowed him to continue coughing; rubbing his back in a soothing pattern as though he was some sick child. She was compassionate and that was something unusual in this dimension. Patrick found himself leaning into her touch as though she was his mother. He enjoyed her warmth.

Once his coughing fits subsided, Patrick turned to face Dr. Michel and opened his mouth to speak. His throat hurt and he still felt the unusual heaviness on his chest, but he managed to string together a couple of words to create a sentence, "Doctor Michel, what happened? Where am I? Where are the others?" Patrick tried to remember everything that had happened, but all he could picture was Saren sweeping down and shooting his Salarian team in the head. He had a feeling that that memory would stay with him forever. "Where's Shepard? And Tali?" His blood suddenly ran cold. "And Ashley and Kaidan?"

"Serviceman, please calm down or I'll be forced to inject more morphine into your blood stream and render you in a comatose state for another two days," Doctor Michel's voice was soft, but firm and Patrick knew better then to argue with her about these matters, "I'll answer your questions to the best of my ability. As far as I know, Saren was on Virmire. He engaged you and your team in combat and you were wounded in the fight. You were taken aboard the Normandy and returned to the Citadel. Doctor Chakwas managed to stabilize your condition, but she lacked the proper equipment to deal with your injuries."

"How badly was I hurt?"

"You suffered from a concussion and two broken ribs. You're entire left arm was all, but destroyed," Patrick glanced at his arm, relieved to see it still attached to his body, "Don't fret. I managed to repair it, but it wasn't easy. You broke nearly every bone in your arm and your muscle tissue was torn to the point where I feared it may not have healed properly, but it did. When you regain full consciousness, you should have full mobility in your arm." Doctor Michel's hand then trailed down his body, poking and prodding at his injured limbs, "You broke your hip and I believe sprained your ankle when Commander Shepard brought you back onto the Normandy. Other than that, you suffered from major blood loss and you have bruises up and down your entire body." Doctor Michel pulled away, "You're a lucky soldier, Serviceman Hamilton. You could have died. To be honest, Serviceman, you should be dead. I don't know how you survived."

"I am lucky," Patrick's voice was soft, "How long before I can fight again?"

Doctor Michel's laugh was gentle, "You really are a soldier, Serviceman Hamilton. I remember when I first saw you in my more humble office. You were young and inexperienced, a new member to the Alliance, a boy. Now when I look at you I see a man who's been hardened by war, but you still have the same compassion of a civilian. You are still young, but I see great things in you, Serviceman Hamilton. You will return to battle, with or without my blessing."

Patrick smiled for a second before he grew more serious, "And what of Shepard and the others?"

"Shepard took most of your team to the Council Chambers. To discuss the threat of the Reapers," Doctor Michel's voice grew serious, "Garrus and your Quarian friend have been talking about it and I managed to hear some things. I'm afraid that the Council has chosen not to believe Shepard about the threat of the Reapers. Shepard, along with Joker and the Normandy, has been grounded." Patrick's face must have suddenly grown terrified because Doctor Michel quickly added, "I could be wrong though, Serviceman Hamilton. You are aware of the rumors on the Citadel."

"It's true though," Patrick whispered. He knew it was true. He knew the game. "I can feel it."

The door suddenly chimed and in walked another human. He tilted his head in respect to both Patrick and Doctor Michel before facing the good doctor, "I spoke with the Turian and he went to go find Commander Shepard and the rest of the crew to let him know that the Serviceman has regained consciousness." Doctor Michel nodded, "The Quarian has decided to stay. She wants to see the Serviceman. I promised her I would speak to you."

Doctor Michel turned to face Patrick, "Are you up for visitors, Serviceman Hamilton?"

"Yes," Patrick nodded, his heart rising at the thought of seeing Tali. He had to make sure she was alright and perhaps she would know more of their companions… and of Ashley or Kaidan.

Doctor Michel nodded once more, "I will send her in and we will let you privately talk for a few moments."

Patrick watched as Doctor Michel walked out with her assistant and waited for a second before the chime of the door sounded once more, signaling the arrival of Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Patrick watched her as she moved. She was favoring her right leg. Was she hurt? Did Saren touch her? Patrick longed to ask her, but before he could voice his concerns, he was engulfed in her gentle embrace. He leaned into her arms. It wasn't a romantic embrace. It was one shared between two friends… two companions who had been through hell together and survived.

"Tali," Patrick whispered and suddenly he felt his friend tremor in his arms, realizing that she was crying. Or the Quarian equivalent of crying. He tightened his embrace around her, "Tali, easy there. What's wrong? Are you alright?"

"I didn't think you were going to live," Tali's voice was soft, but it wasn't shaky. Even at her worst, she was still so strong. "Wrex was talking about your injuries with Shepard and he kept going on about how you weren't going to make it… how you weren't strong enough to survive an encounter with Saren. I didn't want to believe him, but I was there. I watched you fight Saren and then when you were brought to the Citadel and brought here and kept away from me and Shepard and the others, we all thought you were dead. Doctor Michel and her interns came out and gave us reports about your condition every chance they could, but it wasn't enough. We didn't know how you were or anything."

"Tali," Patrick pulled back to stare into what he assumed were Tali's eyes, "Tali, breathe. You may have a breathalyzer mask, but you still need to take a pause in between sentences." Tali took a breath and Patrick gave a weak smile, "Tali, look at me. I'm… well I don't want to lie and say I'm perfect, but I'm alive and I'm not going to die. The doctor even says that I will be able to fight Saren again soon." Even though he couldn't see her face, Patrick could tell that Tali's eyes had widened, "If Shepard gives me the OK, of course."

"Shepard will give you the OK," Tali's tone was still soft, but for a moment she sounded wiser than even the ancient Asari. "He needs you Serviceman Hamilton." Patrick was about to correct her and ask that she be informal with him, but she continued on without a pause in breath, "I don't think he even knows why, but he needs you to fight with him now. Especially since he'll be fighting alone... without the Council's aid. I'm worried about your injuries, but I trust in Shepard's judgment. He wouldn't send you to your grave. His grave, perhaps, but not yours. I know you're going to make a comment about me not taking a breath, but you and the others can't see my face… can't see my expressions… so I have to talk… I have to explain myself." Tali took a shaky breath, "I need you to know how concerned I was for you."

"Tali, I know," Patrick smiled weakly, remembering his last thoughts before slipping into unconsciousness after facing Saren. He thought of Tali; he realized that he loved her. He had to let her know too before Illos… before something happened. "Believe me I know." Patrick took Tali's hand and rested it on his chest, letting her feel his heartbeat, "Tali, listen, there's something I need to tell you. Something important." Before he told her of his affections, though, he had to first tell her about his past… who he was. "I..."

The chiming of the door brought Patrick and Tali's attention away from one another.

"Hey you can't go-" And the chiming of the door silenced Dr. Michel's assistant.

In walked, Liara T'Soni. She looked exhausted, but she smiled when she saw Patrick and she walked over to him, Tali bowing her head as she allowed the Asari to throw her arms around the weakened Serviceman. Patrick returned her embrace and they stood like that for about half a second before Liara pulled away, tears in her pale eyes. Those tears explained so much and Patrick bowed his head, swallowing his own grief.

Liara turned to Tali, "Did you tell him?"

"No," Tali's voice was soft as usual, but colder? Filled with envy?

"Serviceman Hamilton, Lieutenant Alenko… Kaidan… he…" Patrick lifted up his hand, stopping Liara's explanation.

"I know," Patrick whispered, his chest tightening. He knew that someone was going to die; he had known it since the beginning. But that didn't make the pain any less. "He was a good soldier." Patrick then turned away from Liara and faced Tali. She was with him before he lost unconsciousness in the fight; she would know what had happened to Kaidan. "How?"

"Everything was exploding," Tali's voice grew gentler as she explained the Lieutenant's death to Patrick, "Saren was gone and you were under so much debris. Joker brought the Normandy towards our area just as another detonation went off. Kaidan was injured greatly, but he remained conscious. He told me to get you aboard the Normandy first, he said you were more important, and he told me to tell Shepard to only return for him if there was time." Tali paused and then continued, "There wasn't time. Serviceman Hamilton, I'm so sorry."

"Tali, can you give Patrick and myself a few moments to speak in privacy?" Liara suddenly asked and Tali looked surprised, but she bowed her head, leaving Patrick alone with the beautiful Asari.

"I'm sorry about Kaidan, Liara," Patrick reached out and touched Liara's shoulder, "I knew that you were fond of him."

"I cared for him, but we are at war with perhaps the greatest enemy the galaxy has seen in centuries," Liara sighed, "I knew the risks when I joined Shepard and so did Kaidan. I will miss him, but I will have my time to grieve when we beat the Reapers." Liara then faced Patrick, new determination in her eyes, "For now, we have some business to take care of. In Saren's base, Shepard spoke with Sovereign, a Reaper, and he indicated that there was a second Prothean beacon somewhere on Virmire. I know you and your sense of… luck and I know you must have discovered it."

Patrick smiled gently, "You know me so well."

"So you did find it?" Patrick nodded, "And you received another vision?" Once more Patrick nodded, "This is… this is fortunate news, Serviceman Hamilton. Would you… would it be rude of me to ask that we reconnect our minds? I know that you are injured and tired, but this could give us the exact coordinates of Illos?"

"Of course, Liara."

Liara nodded and rested her hands on Patrick's shoulders and they stared into one another's eyes. Everything returned.

_The Protheans…_

_The Reapers…_

_Sovereign…_

And finally…

_Illos._

They broke apart from one another, breathing heavy.

Liara was the first to speak.

"I have to be honest with you, Serviceman Hamilton, it is still shocking to see your mind and your dimension," Patrick blinked in surprise, forgetting that Liara had also seen into his own mind, "But that is not really important. We know where Illos is now. We have to take the information back to Commander Shepard. The Normandy is on lockdown and Joker is grounded, but perhaps the Commander has some sort of idea. He usually does."

"Liara," Patrick reached out his hand and Liara looked at him, confusion appearing in her eyes, "When we return to Shepard and give him this information, you alone will be taking Shepard and the crew to Illos." Liara's eyes widened, but Patrick continued before she had the chance to interrupt him, "When I see Shepard again, I'm telling him the truth. No more lies. I'm telling him and the entire crew the truth about who I am and where I came from. I have faith in Shepard and I know he always does the right thing, but I have to prepare myself for the worse. Shepard might think I'm insane and dismiss me from the crew."

"But I can tell him the truth…?"

"Maybe he would believe you, but maybe not," Patrick's voice grew softer, "I can't risk you being kicked off the Normandy as well. Shepard and the others need you. You have to protect them."

"Why?" Liara whispered, "Why are you telling Shepard now? Why right before our most important mission?"

"Kaidan would have wanted me to," Patrick sighed, "He never liked lying and neither do I. The only reason I lied to join Shepard's crew was because I thought I could do some good… I thought I could save Kaidan on Virmire, but I didn't do anything. He still died. I can't continue on with this charade anymore."

"But where will you go?"

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"Well, look who it is!" Patrick smiled weakly as walked into the Ambassador's office, leaning heavily on Shepard and Garrus while Tali and Liara walked behind him. Wrex was the one who had shouted, smirking from his position by Ashley who also looked relieved to see him while Joker sat in a chair near her, smiling at the Serviceman. Captain Anderson was there also, but Udina was absent from the scene… probably dealing with the Council and attempting to get the Normandy back in the sky. "I was sure you were a goner! Looks like you might have Krogan blood in you after all, Hamilton!"

"Thank you, Wrex," Patrick allowed Garrus to put him in a chair, directly across from Joker and he reached out to shake the pilot's hand, wincing as he stretched his still healing ribs, "Still kicking, Joker?"

Joker snorted in laughter, "You're one to talk, Hamilton. You were the one who almost died."

"Died? Nah I'm good as new," Patrick flexed his fingers and grinned, "I'm ready to start hitting up the Citadel's bars."

"Sounds good to me." Patrick and Joker shared a laugh before everyone was reminded about the mission at hand. Ashley, Garrus, Tali, and Anderson sat in the four other chairs while Shepard began pacing the office. Wrex and Liara leaned against opposite walls, staring at their human companions. Wrex was cracking his knuckles while Liara watched Patrick with anxious eyes. He caught her stare and smiled, but she did not return it.

"Liara has informed me that she and Hamilton have discovered Illos's coordinates," Shepard began, "That's good news. We now know where we need to go, but we still lack a ship to get us there. Captain," Shepard addressed Anderson with respect, dipping his head to his older friend, "Has there been any luck in getting the Normandy back?"

"I'm afraid not, Commander," Anderson sighed, "She remains grounded." The Captain then cast a glance in Joker's direction who was glowering at his hands, "And Joker is also forbidden to fly as well."

"Damn Council," Joker muttered and Ashley patted his shoulder in sympathy.

"So what are we going to do?" Garrus inquired.

Shepard found a seat and sat down; looking defeated for the first time ever, "I don't know, Garrus. I don't know."

"Well, we're not giving up, right, Skipper?" Ashley glanced at Shepard, smiling, but her smile soon faltered when Shepard stared at her with the same defeated expression he was giving everyone else, "Commander? Shepard? John, come on, you can't be serious! Look at what we have accomplished! We can't give up now! Not after… everything! Kaidan would have died for nothing! Patrick would have faced Saren for everything!"

"Chief, settle down," Shepard ordered and Ashley's eyes widened, but she remained silent. "Giving up isn't ideal, but we have no other choice right now. I propose that we all find somewhere to stay on the Citadel, somewhere to lie low for a couple of hours, and then return here, hopefully with a better plan. Any objections?" Ashley and Garrus exchanged a glance and Wrex once more cracked his knuckles, but no one said anything, "Good."

"Commander?"

Everyone turned to face Patrick who blushed under his companions' stares.

"I'd like to say something."

"Hamilton," Patrick glanced at Liara, her eyes pleading with him, "Please."

"There's something I need to discuss with you… all of you," Patrick stared at everyone, his eyes lingering on Tali before he caught Shepard's stare. He was the one who needed to hear this the most. "For the past six weeks, I have fought beside each of you. We have talked and argued; defeated enemies and suffered losses. I trust each of you with my life." Patrick gave a weak smile, "Even you, Wrex."

Wrex snorted in laughter.

"This is very sentimental, Serviceman, but is there a point?" Shepard asked and Patrick nodded, "Then get on with it."

"I trust each of you because you have been honest and upfront with me," Everyone nodded and Patrick swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat before continuing, "I cannot accept your trust when I have not been the same. I have not been honest or truthful about anything." Everyone stopped nodding, "You know me as Patrick Hamilton, a Serviceman and before that a civilian stationed on Eden Prime. And also an amateur Prothean researcher."

"Most of these things I told you were lies," Patrick stared at each of his companions, studying their faces. Joker and Anderson looked confused while Liara was staring anywhere, but at Patrick. Ashley was exchanging glances with Garrus, both of them confused, while Wrex's eyes hardened as he stared at Patrick. Shepard's face remained emotionless. "My name is Patrick Hamilton, but until the day that the Chief found me, I had never been on Eden Prime. I was transported there from my own… dimension. I was transported from there and brought here by some… game. I knew about you, all of you, and I knew about your mission against the Reapers. I knew what was going to happen before any of you did."

"I was not a Prothean researcher… I was not a farmer on Eden Prime. I was just some kid from my dimension's Earth, playing some game that suddenly became real."

"He's lost his mind," Ashley whispered loudly and Patrick nodded slowly, expecting this response, "Saren must have injured him… or his concussion! That must have affected his memory!"

"No, I assure you all that I am very sane."

"Doubt it," Garrus snorted, "You honestly expect us to believe that you are from some other dimension and that we are nothing more, but data in your world?" That was a new one. _Data_. Kaidan had always referred to himself as a pixel on a screen.

"I don't expect you to believe it, but it's the truth."

"Prove it."

Liara took a step forward, but Patrick stopped her with a glare and she retreated, bowing her head, "I can't prove anything. I was hoping that you would all trust me and believe me." He was met with silence. "Think about some things. How else would I have known all the stuff I know? I've predicted things before and they've always happened! I'm telling the truth!" Still silence. Patrick was going to have to try a different method. He turned to the Commander. "Shepard, you know how the Council would accept your truth about Saren? Or about the Reapers? I'm in the same situation! Please, Shepard, you have to believe me!"

Everyone looked at Shepard who was looking down at his hands.

"John?" Anderson was the first to speak in a calm fashion since Patrick began his explanation.

Shepard lifted his hand and stared into Patrick's eyes. There was no emotion there. "Get out."

"What?"

"Shepard, rethink this!" That was Liara, disobeying Patrick's orders and interfering.

Shepard ignored her and continued to stare at Patrick, "Get out."

Anderson began to speak, but Patrick stood up and walked out. He didn't turn to stare into his friends' hateful eyes… Shepard's emotionless expression. He never once looked at Tali to see how she was reacting to his news. No he kept walking - walking away from his friends, his life, his destiny.

What now?

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A/N: I believe several apologies are in order.

1. For my hiatus from this story. The hiatus was only supposed to last a month, but it ended up spanning for over a year. That was not my intention and I have had several problems over here in the Real World. I have been unable to write and I apologize profusely. If any of my original readers return, I will be forever grateful.

2. My second apology goes to this chapter which I believe did not reach its full potential. I may rewrite it sometime in the future, but I mainly wanted to get it out. I was displeased with the length of the story and also with the scene where Patrick tells the truth about his past to the Normandy crew. That was a difficult scene to write and I hope that while it wasn't perfect, you all found something positive about the scene.

And, not quite an apology, but almost a plead, I hope that everyone has no qualms about my Patrick and Tali relationship. I know that there were people who thought they were moving to slow and then there were those who thought I was moving too quickly. I wanted to appease both sides of the spectrum.

So you would honor me greatly by reviewing. Thank you.


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